
am 

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The Old World. 

V 

1 PAL E ST I N E 

SYRIA AND ASIA MINOR 

TRAVEL, INCIDENT, DESCRIPTION 
AND HISTORY. 

By JACOB R. FREESE, M.D., 

U. S. Commissioner to Paris Exposition, 1867. 




POOL OF SI LOAM. 



PHILADELPHIA 
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 
1869. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Eastern 
District of Pennsylvania. 



lippincott's press, 

PHIL \1> KLPHfA . 



TO MY OWN DEAR 



LILT WIFE, 

WHO ACCOMPANIED ME IN MY TOUR THROUGH 

EGYPT, PALESTINE, SYRIA, ASIA MINOR, 

AXD DURING ALL OF MY WANDERINGS IN THE OLD WORLD — 
ENJOYING WHERE I ENJOYED, AND SUFFERING WHERE 
I SUFFERED, ALWAYS CHEERFUL, HAPPY, 
AND SYMPATHIZING — 

This Volume is Respectfully Inscribed. 
AS A SOUVENIR 

OF THOSE MANY HAPPY AND NEVER-TO-BE-FORGOTTEN 
DAYS, BY 



THE AUTHOR. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGK 

Author's Preface 15 



CHAPTER I. 

ENTRANCE INTO PALESTINE 

Our last View of Alexandria— Steamers — First Glimpse of Pales- 
tine — Landing at Jaffa— Reflections — Town of Jaffa — Marriage 
Incident— Maronite Wedding— American Colony— Plain of 
Sharon — Arrival at Ramlah— Ancient Lydda— Latrone — Em- 
mouse — Terrible Roads — Valley of Ajalon— Valley of Elah — 
First Glimpse of the Walls of Jerusalem — Views of Other 
Travelers over the Same Route 1*9 



CHAPTER II. 

' CITY OF THE GREAT KING.'' - 

Disappointment in First View of Jerusalem — First Impressions — ■ 
Tradition, how Estimated — Church of the Holy Sepulchre- 
Fanaticism of the Monks — Ceremony of the Crucifixion — Pil- 
grims to the Tomb — The Holy Fire — Easter, or Palm Sunday — 
Chapels and Altars — Thoughts on the Identity of the Tomb 

and Holy Places 42 

5 



6 



Contents. 



CHAPTER III. 

IN AND ABOUT JERUSALEM. 

I 

Incidents of Travel — Garden of Gethsemane — The Mount of Olives 
— View from the Minaret — Tomb and Chapel of the Virgin — 
The Greek Grotto — Place of St. Stephen's Martyrdom — Via 
Doloroso — Pilate's House — Church of Flagellation — Ecce 
Homo — Lazarus and Dives— House of Veronica — The Virgin 
Mary's Residence — House of Caiaphas — Door of Sepulchre and 
Stone on which the Cock Crew — Old Coptic Books — Armenian 
Convent — English Hospital 

CHAPTER IV. 

PAST AND PRESENT OF THE HOLY CITY. 

Difficulties of Sight-seeing in Jerusalem — The Walls of the City- 
Valley of Jehoshaphat — Room of the Last Supper — Tomb of 
David — The Jews' Wailing Place — Robinson's Arch- — The 
Lepers' Quarters — Pool of Bethesda- — Fountain of the Virgin — 
Pool of Siloam — Pool of Hezekiah — Upper and Lower Pool of 
Gihon — The Tombs of Absalom, Jehoshaphat, St. James, and 
other Open Tombs on the Hillsides — The Tombs of the Kings, 
the Judges, and the Prophets — The Mosque of Omar 

CHAPTER V. 

OFF FOR THE JORDAN AND DEAD SEA. 

Off for the Jordan and Dead Sea — A Difficulty with our Dragoman 
— Village of Bethany — Tomb of Lazarus — Road from Bethany 
to Jericho — The Wilderness — The Fountain of Elisha— Jericho 
— An Arab Funeral — Falling Among Thieves — The River 
Jordan — Easter Baptismals — Greek and Russian Pilgrims — 
Baptism of Jesus — The Bedouins of the Jordan — Their Won- 
derful Horses — Anecdotes Thereof — Oriental Tradition of the 
Building of Solomon's Temple — Bedouin Customs — Attack and 
Defence — The Dead Sea — Bath Therein — Peculiarity of the 
Waters — Ancient Accounts — Apples of Sodom — General De- 
scription . 



Con tents, 



CHAPTER VI. 

OVER THE HILLS TO BETHLEHEM. 

PAGE 

Laughable Situation — Bathing under Difficulties — Off for Mar Saba 
— Examination of" the Convent — General Description — Views 
of Other Travelers — From Mar Saba to Bethlehem — The Town 
and its Surroundings — The Convent, Within and Without — 
Burial-ground — Milk Grotto — Pools of Solomon — The Foun- 
tain — Abraham's Oak — Hebron, its People and Surroundings 
— Valley of Eshcol — Rachel's Tomb — The English Church at 
Jerusalem— Something of its History and Workings 123 



CHAPTER VII. 

NORTHWARD THROUGH SAMARIA. 

Reflections on Leaving Jerusalem — El-Bir and the Gibeonites — 
Mr. Skinner's Experience Among Them — "Hewers of Wood"' 
— The Fuel of Palestine — Bethel, Past and Present — Mosque 
of Settein — Ancient Shiloh — Mount Hermon — Jacob's Well — 
Tomb of Joseph — Valley of Xablous — Mount Gerizim and 
Mount Ebal — Nablous — Ascent of Mount Gerizim — Ruins of 
Ancient Samaritan Temple — Ancient Samaritans, and Some- 
thing of their History — Present Synagogue — Why they Never 
Quit Nablous 143 



CHAPTER VIII. 

DESOLATION AND BEAUTY. 

Copy of Old Law — Ancient Samaria and Present Sebustieh — Church 
of St. John — Other* Ruins — Sanur — First View of Esdraelon 
and Mountains of Nazareth — Jenin — A Sabbath in the Holy 
Land — A New Experience — The Plain of Jezreel — Valley of 
Esdraelon — Past and Presents the Country — Ancient Shunem 
— Nain — Endor — First View of Nazareth — Mr. Skinner's Nar- 
rative 167 

1 * 



8 



Contents. 



CHAPTER IX. 

ONWARD THROUGH GALILEE. 

PAGE 

Nazareth — Latin Convent — Place of Annunciation — The Synagogue 
in which Jesus Taught — The Place to which they led Him 
out — The Stone on which He ate — Fountain of the Virgin — 
Lamartine's View of Convents in Palestine — The Present Town 
• — Peculiar Features of its Inhabitants — View from the Hill-top 
back of Nazareth — From Nazai-eth to Mount Tabor — Ascent — 
Ruins Thereon — View Therefrom — Descent — Deborah — On- 
ward to the Sea of Galilee — First View — Reflections — Mount 
of Beatitude — Dr. Robinson's Reflections on the same Route — 
Lord Egerton's Experience — Our first Bath in the Sea — Unex- 
pected Bath in the Jordan — Hot Springs and Bathing-Houses 
— Six Days on the Sea-shore — Wanderings and Reflections.. . 183 



CHAPTER X. 

THE SEA OF GALILEE. 

Its Size and Situation — Calm and Storm — Its Different Names — 
Views of Ancient Writers — Past and Present Appearance— 
Magdala — Gennesaret — Fountain of the Fig — Capernaum — 
Bethsaida — Of other Ancient Cities — Tiberias — Walls and 
Citadel — Convent of St. Peter — Illustrations of Moslem Re- 
spect for Power and Position — Call from the Commandant — 
Call from the Governor — Return Call by Ourselves — Manners 
and Customs of Turkish Officials 201 



CHAPTER XL 

DESOLATE PLACES. 

On leaving Tiberias— Where Joseph was cast into the Pit — Ste- 
phens' Views as to its Identity — The City of Safed — Descrip- 
tion — The Ruins throughout Palestine — Cause and Effect — 
Measurement of Distances in Palestine — Lake of El Huleh — 



Contents. 



9 



Syrian Cultivation — The Mill of Malaha — Hasbeiyah River — 
Banias, the Ancient Caesarea Philippi — Castle of Banias — 
View from the Ruins — The Great Fountain — Historical and 
Biblical Associations — Leaving the Footsteps of Jesus 220 

CHAPTER XII. 

AMONG THE DRUSES. 

The Cold Winds of Hermon— Arrival at Beit-Jin — Among the 
Druses — Their History and Religion — Domestic Virtues and 
Vices — But One Wife — Marriage Ceremony — Origin of the 
Druses — Strange Incidents and Superstitions — Arrival at Kafr- 
Howaran — Tent-life in Palestine ' 234 

CHAPTER XIII. 

" THE GARDEN OF EDEN." 

Valley of Damascus — " Garden of Eden" — Getting within the 
Walls of the City — Dr. Robinson's Experience — Also that of 
Maj. Skinner — Our Tents Pitched on the Banks of the Abana 
— The Surroundings of the City — Sights without the Walls — 
Something of its History — Population and General Appearance 
— Interior Decorations — The English Lady — Truth Stranger 
than Fiction — Coffee-shops — The Recitation of Fables 254 

CHAPTER XIV. 

'SIGHTS OF DAMASCUS. 

A Man Hanging at the Street Corner — The Moslem's Theory of 
Punishment — Mosque of St. John — The Old Castle — Govern- 
ment Mill — Convents and Monkish Tales — The Bazaars — Lost 
Arts — The Saddlers of Damascus — The Barbers — Style of 
Shops — Restaurants — Gold and Silversmiths — The Street called 
" Straight" — The City Wall — Where Paul was let down — Ori- 
entalism of Damascus — Life and Adventures of Assaad and 
Abdallah-el-Satadgi 273 



IO 



Contents. 



CHAPTER XV. 

ANTI-LEBANON. 

PAGE 

Leaving Damascus — Last View from the Dome of Victory — Mo- 
hammed's Paradise — Fountain of the Barada — Ancient Tem- 
ples — Robinson's and Prime's Comments — Cliffs of Abila — 
Grave of Abel — Tents Pitched in Wrong Place — Remedy — 
Ravine and River — Old Tombs — Remarkable Road — Zebdani 
— Home-like Appearance of Valley — Village of Bludin — 
Mountains of Anti-Lebanon — Valley of Baalbec — Fountains of 
Baalbec 294 



CHAPTER XVI. 

BAALBEC. 

The Ruins at Baalbec — Theories as to their Origin — The Platform 
on which Built — The Temple of the Sun — Quadrangular Court 
■ — Hexagonal Court— Temple of Jupiter — The Great Stones — 
Queries and Answers — Inscriptions - 306 



CHAPTER XVII. 

AMONG THE MARONITES. 

Faces Westward — Thoughts of Home — The Circular Temple- 
Mosque of Salah-e'deen — Modern Baalbec — Moslem Temple 
and Convents — Tomb of Noah — Village of Maalakha — The 
Maronites and their Peculiarities — Eatin Convent — The Great 
French Road from Damascus to Beyrout— Turkish Governor 
and Suite — Beautiful Views from the Mountains of Lebanon — 
Arrival at Beyrout 319 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

BEYROUT. 

Suggestions as to Change of Route — Reasons therefor— Opinions 
of another Tourist — Syria as a whole — Beyrout and its Sur- 



Contents. 



ii 



roundings— Coffee-houses -Turkish Baths— Our Consul— Ex- 
cellent Treaty Stipulation — Missionary Station — Departure 
from Holy Land — Reflections 345 

CHAPTER XIX. 

COAST-TOWNS OF SYRIA. 

Once more on the Sea — Russian Pilgrims — Tea-drinking — Praying 
— Singing — Dress — Spirit of the Crusaders — Tripoli— Latakiah 
— On Minaret — Latakiah Tobacco — Ancient Laodicea — Alexan- 
dretta — Bath — Consequences — Warning 368 

CHAPTER XX. 

THE CEDARS OF LEBANON. 

Syrian Dwelling-houses — The Simplest and Best Forms — Flat 
Roofs and Incidents — Heights and Cedars of Lebanon — Beau- 
tiful Views — " Trees of Eden" — The Metualis — Their Peculiar- 
ities — Legends and Incidents 387 

CHAPTER XXI. 

ASIA MINOR. 

From Alexandretta to Mersyn — Rhodes — Islands of the Archipel- 
ago—Accident to our Steamer — Smyrna— American Mission- 
Tomb of Polycarp— The Old Castle— View Therefrom— The 
City and its Suburbs — Ephesus — Ancient Lesbos — Ancient 
Troy— Dardanelles— Metropolitan Bishop— Abydos— Hero and 
Leander — Byron — Sea of Marmora— First View of Constanti- 
nople — Its Situation— Style of Architecture — Real Condition . . 406 

CHAPTER XXII. 

CONSTANTINOPLE. 

Constantinople : its Situation and Commerce— American Consul- 
American Minister Resident— Mosque of St. Sophia— Mosque 



12 



Contents. 



of Sultan Achmed — The Hippodrome — The Janizaries — The 
Thousand-and-one Columns — Mosque of Mohammed II. — The 
Seraglio — Burnt Pillar — Pigeon Mosque— Mosque of Suleiman 
the Magnificent — The Bazaars 417 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

CLOSING SIGHTS. 

Constantinople continued — English Chapel — Lord Lyons — The 
Whirling Dervishes — Sultan's Palace, Mosque, and Barracks- 
Public Gardens — Scutari — View Therefrom — Palace of Sweet 
Waters — The Sultan Himself— View of the " Houris" — Street 
Amusements — Bazaar Shopping — Departure 431 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR, AND PECULIARITIES OF, EASTERN 
TRAVEL. 

General Directions for Visiting Syria — A Christian Dragoman 
Preferable— None needed from Cairo to Jerusalem — Landing 
at Jaffa or Beyrout — Thence to Jerusalem — Plans of Future 
Travel — Contract with Dragomen — A Third Plan Possible — 
Dragomen at Jerusalem and Beyrout — Arms — Clothing — Cus- 
toms of the Country — Horseback and Muleback — Urquhart's 
Experiences — Baking Bread — Modes of Salutation — Saddles, 
where and how best Procured — Lines of Steamers 441 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



BETHLEHEM Frontispiece. 

POOL OF SILOAM Vignette Title. 

page 

HOLY SEPULCHRE 45 

GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE 68 

VALLEY OF JEHOSAPHAT 7 8 

MOSQUE OF OMAR go 

CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY 129 

PLOUGHING IN SYRIA 225 

DRUSE MARRIAGE PROCESSION 240 

RUINS OF BAALBEC 306 

FLAT HOUSE-TOPS OF SYRIA , 39 o 

CEDARS OF LEBANON 394 



PREFACE. 



He who would write understandingly of Palestine must know 
of it, see it and feel it : — must know of it from a careful perusal 
of the Book of books ; must see it for himself with all its beau- 
ties and deformities, and must feel within himself the hallowed 
associations which cluster around its mountains and valleys, 
lakes and rivers, towns and cities. 

Thus knowing, seeing, and feeling, no one can make the tour 
of the Holy Land without pleasure and profit. He may, and 
indeed must, suffer more or less of personal discomfort while 
traveling day after day and week after week over paths the most 
rugged, mountains the most desolate, and plains the most sterile 
of all the world beside ; but with every step new scenes and as- 
sociations will open before him, making more vivid the mental 
pictures his readings have produced of the days of the ancient 
patriarchs, prophets and kings of Israel ; the birth, the life, the 
death and the resurrection of a once crucified, but now glorified, 
Redeemer ; the trials and triumphs of the apostles, whom Christ 
"chose as his own ;" the weary days and watchful nights of the 
early Christians, who suffered rebukes, buffetings and even death 
in maintaining the faith « once delivered to the saints ;" and the 
oft-repeated struggles of the Crusaders, who, to rescue the cross 
from the hands of infidels, poured out their life-blood on the 
plain of Esdraelon, around the walls of Jerusalem, and wherever 
else they could meet the Moslem face to face and hand to hand. 



i6 



Preface. 



On leaving the borders of Dan, and entering upon what is 
more properly called Syria (as the Palestine of the Bible only 
extended "from Dan to Beersheba"), one meets with scenes of a 
somewhat different character, though scarcely less interesting. 
It is here that the descendants of Noah " built great cities" 
immediately after the flood, and whose reputed tombs remain 
even until this day. 

Thence northward, through Asia Minor, some of the sites of 
the " seven churches of Asia," of which St. John wrote in the 
Revelation, are reached ; and not far from these are the island 
of Patmos, the site of ancient Troy, and Stamboul the won- 
derful ! 

It was my privilege, during the months of March and April, 
1867, to spend forty-one days traveling through Palestine and 
Syria — the days on horseback and the nights in tents — and 
during all this time I spared no pains to see what was to be 
seen and learn what was to be learned. How well or ill I im- 
proved my opportunities the following pages will best determine. 

On the first of May following I left Syria, and for some two 
weeks thereafter was engaged in traveling upon the sea, and in 
examining the towns and cities of Asia Minor, and finally reached 
Constantinople ; and here, too, I must refer my readers to the 
chapters following as proof of my industry in sight-seeing. 

Next to seeing the . country for oneself is to read a faithful 
account given by one who has seen it ; and I think it no ego- 
tism to say that in faithfulness of description the following pages 
will bear comparison with others heretofore written by travelers. 

Most of the chapters (originally in the form of letters for a 
public journal) were written at the time, and upon or near the 
spots described, while everything connected with them was fresh 
in our mind's eye. And while nothing, knowingly, has been 
" set down in malice," neither has any fact, deemed of import- 
ance or interest, been omitted. 

The engravings are copied from views and sketches purchased 



Preface. 



*7 



by myself in the Old World, and have in every case been se- 
lected with special reference to their faithfulness of representa- 
tion. 

In the preparation of this volume I have endeavored to make 
it instructive as well as entertaining, and to this end I have not 
hesitated to draw from any and all sources within my reach. It 
will be observed that I have quoted from the ably-written works 
of Robinson, Stephens, Prime, Burckhardt, Lords Lindsay and 
Egerton, Kelly, Olin, Russell, Skinner, Elliot, Addison, Lamar- 
tine, Perrier, Volney and others ; and if, in any instance, I have 
failed to give the proper credit, this general acknowledgment 
will suffice for all. I have no pride of authorship to subserve, 
and have only aimed to give the greatest amount of practical in- 
formation in the least possible space. 

I would also acknowledge my indebtedness to Prof. Ellis A. 
Apgar, the State School Superintendent of New Jersey, for care- 
fully revising these pages before placing them in the hands of 
my publishers. 

J. R. F. 

Trenton, N. J,, 1868. 



* 



The Old World. 

PALESTINE. 



CHAPTER I. 

ENTRANCE INTO PALESTINE. 

IT is near noon of the 19th of March, when our good 
ship Illysus starts from the harbor of Alexandria for 
the port of Jaffa. The day is bright and beautiful ; scores 
of vessels are in the harbor, and the loading and unload- 
ing of merchandise presents a busy and cheerful scene ; 
the waters of the bay reflect back the sunlight like a great 
mirror of polished glass ; the Pasha's palace and other 
public buildings of the city have enchantment added by 
" distance to the view ;" Cleopatra's Needle and Pompey's 
Pillar loom up in the distance like great sentinels of the 
mighty and far-gone past ; and thus it is that we have our 
last, long, lingering view of the once famous city of 
Philip. 

Our ship is one of the French line of steamers which 
ply regularly between Alexandria and Smyrna, and, 
though not large, its appointments are unexceptionable 



20 



The Old World— Palestine. 



in every particular. The officers are attentive, the state- 
rooms clean and spacious, the tables are good, the decks 
are clean, and everything presents a comfortable appear- 
ance. These steamers leave Alexandria for ports north 
on the 8th, 18th and 28th of each month, and usually 
reach Jaffa about noon of the day following. The fare, 
first-class, is 72 francs, equaling about $14. 

There are two other lines of steamers which ply be- 
tween Alexandria and Jaffa and parts farther north, viz., 
the Austrian and Russian ; but, from the best information 
we can obtain, neither of these is as good as the French 
line. 

Our boat, on this trip, has an unusually large number 
of first-class passengers — more, indeed, than the state- 
rooms will accommodate, but by improvising sleeping- 
places in the cabin and in the officers' quarters, all are 
very comfortably accommodated. Among the passengers 
are no less than sixteen Americans, bound for the Holy- 
Land, and all, like ourselves, making the tour of Europe 
and the East. It is pleasant to meet with friends and 
countrymen at home, but doubly so in a far-distant land, 
where everything is new, and strange, and untried ; and 
it gives us pleasure to add that now, more than ever 
before, the American, traveling in foreign lands, is proud 
to own himself a citizen of the Great Republic ! If in 
ancient days the name of Roman citizen was talismanic, 
that of American is doubly so in this our day ! Thanks 
to Victory ! 

Before nightfall we are out of sight of land, and not 
until near noon of the day following do we get our first 
glimpse of Syria ; and not until four o'clock of the after- 
noon of the same day do we reach Jaffa. A delay of 
some four hours from the usual time in leaving Alexan- 
dria, causes, of course, a corresponding delay in reaching 



Entrance into Palestine. 



21 



Jaffa. Still, the time is ample for getting ourselves and 
baggage on shore and our tents pitched before the night 
comes on. 

The harbor of Jaffa — if it can be called a harbor at all 
—is so shallow that vessels of any considerable size can- 
not approach within a half mile of the shore, and. as a 
consequence, passengers and luggage have to be taken 
off in row-boats. The noise and confusion of this pro- 
cedure is easier imagined than described ; and a like 
remark is applicable to the passing of baggage through 
the Jaffa custom-house. Patience and bucksheesh, how- 
ever, will bring both to an end ere long. Finally 
we reach a high hill, just outside of the town, and here 
our tents are pitched in company with about a dozen 
others. 

How we unfurl the " stars and stripes" to the kisses of 
the soft sea breeze, and how an English flag near by 
flaunts jauntinglv at ours ; how dragomen, and servants, 
and horsemen, and muleteers chatter and splutter and frisk 
about ; how the natives gather on the outskirts of our 
camp and look on in amazement at this inordinate influx 
of " howadjis ;" how the dinner, steaming hot and 
luscious, comes ere long from off the " Egyptian cook 
stove," which said stove is nothing more than a piece of 
sheet iron, about ten inches wide by twenty-four in length, 
perforated with holes and standing upon four iron legs, 
upon which charcoal is thrown, and by the ignition of 
which an Egyptian cook boils and fries and roasts even- 
sort of eatable : and how. after dinner is over, we walk out 
upon the sea-shore, and, while the stars look down as in 
days of old. think of the time when, just here, Noah built 
the ark in obedience to the command of the Most High 
— how, just here, Hiram, king of Tyre, brought the 
cedars of Lebanon for the building of Solomon's Temple 



22 



The Old World— Palestine. 



— how, just here, Jonah embarked to flee from the com- 
mand of God, but found himself, ere long, in the belly of 
a whale — how, just here, Peter saw the vision from the 
house-top of " Simon the Tanner," which taught him the 
lesson that God is no respecter of persons — how, just 
here, Peter recalled Tabitha to life — and how, just here, 
the first Napoleon carried on a most desperate siege, and, 
after the capitulation of the city, ordered four thousand 
Turkish soldiers to be inhumanly butchered, — are not all 
these things written upon our own brain and on the pages 
of sacred and profane history, and would a more minute 
description thereof add anything to the interest of the 
reader ! 

A French writer, who visited Palestine many years 
ago, thus describes the town and its surroundings : 

" The town of Jaffa stands on a hill that rises abruptly 
from the sea, from which, at some distance, it has a very 
picturesque appearance ; though, on closer inspection, it 
appears a miserable place ; but it has a fine climate and 
a fine country round it, and the orange-gardens are the 
most luxuriant on the shores of the Mediterranean. It is 
popularly believed to have existed before the Deluge, and 
to have been the city where Noah dwelt and built his ark. 
It was the port whence Jonah embarked for Tarshish 
when he was thrown overboard and swallowed by a 
whale ; and St. Jerome himself does not disdain to record 
the heathen tradition which made the rocks of Jaffa the 
scene of Andromeda's exposure to the monster, and of 
her rescue by Perseus. But a more recent and a gloomier 
association attached to the name of this town belongs to 
Napoleon's history — the poisoning of the French invalids 
and the massacre of four thousand prisoners. 

" The ancient harbor of this sole seaport of Judea is 
still traceable, and the rocks that formed the pier rise high 



Entrance into Palestine. 



23 



out of the sea which breaks upon them with tremendous 
violence. This pier was, evidently, an artificial construc- 
tion, and, although no mortar was used in the building 
of it, yet the joinings have become filled up and the 
whole forms a continuous mass resembling that at Rhodes 
and Tyre, though it is much smaller than the latter. The 
ships of Solomon, at least those trading on the Mediter- 
ranean, could not therefore have been very large or nu- 
merous, or they could not have found accommodation in 
this harbor. In common with all the cothons of that 
period, it is now so filled up with sand as only to allow 
an entrance to the small coasting craft. Trade was rather 
brisk at the time of our visit, and the place seemed 
thriving. The imports were mostly pilgrims and corn 
for the Pasha's army ; and the exports chiefly fruits from 
the neighboring gardens. There is a good bazaar, and 
the gate, on the land side, is remarkably handsome ; and 
beside it stands a noble Turkish fountain, formed of 
various colored marbles, pouring forth jets of the purest 
water. It furnishes a good specimen of the gate of an 
Eastern town, having within it the seat of judgment, as 
well as the receipt of custom, and was guarded by a 
strong military force, that formed a pleasing group as they 
surrounded its marble deewan." 

There is one incident of the evening of which we must 
speak more in detail, since it illustrates the manners and 
customs of the people, and the striking similarity of the 
present with the past. We refer to a Syrian marriage 
ceremony, or, rather, the taking home of the bride after 
the marriage. While standing on our camp-ground in 
the early evening, we hear, at a distance, a loud sound of 
voices and rude instruments, and pretty soon observe 
lights approaching on the road which passes our tents. 
We wait with some anxiety to see what it is, and, when 



24 The Old World— Palestine. 

the procession comes near, we are informed by our drag- 
oman that it is a newly-married husband taking home his 
bride. The first part of the procession consists of men, 
old and young, bearing lighted torches, and in their midst 
two or three are playing upon pipes and drums. Next fol- 
low some half dozen men and boys carrying large glass 
lighted lanterns, and immediately behind, or, as it were, 
in the midst of these, walks the bridegroom. The bride, 
with her face closely covered and with one hand resting 
upon the shoulder of the bridegroom, walks closely be- 
hind him, while, immediately behind her, fifty or more 
women and young girls follow, singing and shouting 
continually. Close to the bridegroom is a man carrying 
a chair, and whenever the procession halts, as it does 
frequently, the bridegroom sits down upon this chair, 
while the men shout and dance around him. When 
the husband sits the bride still stands with her hand 
resting on his shoulder. She utters no sound, and, 
by her pensive, silent tread, seems more like a lamb 
going to the slaughter than a new-made bride going to 
the home of her liege lord. 

We follow them some distance as the procession wends 
its way to a small village just outside of the city, but ob- 
serve nothing in addition to the above. One of the 
natives says that the husband gave " twenty French 
pounds" (Napoleons) for the bride, and thinks he has 
paid a high price for her. He says she is " mush-tieb," 
which means not good, but it may be that he is a rejected 
suitor or has some other reason for speaking thus slight- 
ingly of the bride. 

While upon the subject of marriage ceremonies as ob- 
served throughout Palestine and Syria, it may prove of 
interest to our readers to quote Russell's account of the 
ceremony of fetching a bride on the eve of a nuptial-day, 



Entrance into Palestine. 



25 



together with a general description of a Maronite wed- 
ding : 

" The priests," he says, from their easy access to 
families, have a principal share in matrimonial negotia- 
tions ; and, having opportunities of being acquainted 
with the tempers of the children, they are supposed to be 
sincere in their reports. The female relations of the 
youth, too (as among the Moslems) , are employed in the 
search of a bride. When the choice is determined, 
flowerS and other small presents are, from time to time, 
sent from the family of the bridegroom to that of the 
bride, and the relations interchange visits ; but the girl, 
before company, will not so much as touch a flower that 
has come from the other house ; and, if the bridegroom 
happens to be named in her presence, she suddenly as- 
sumes a reserved air, becomes silent, or retires. The 
women know this so well, that, when the young lady 
happens to be rather pert, they threaten to make her soon 
change her tone, and the hint is sufficient to silence her. 

" After the bride has been demanded in form, and 
other matters have been adjusted, a certain number of the 
male relations are invited to an entertainment by her 
father, in order to settle the wedding-day, which is usually 
fixed at the distance of a fortnight. 

" In the afternoon of the day preceding that of the 
nuptials the same company again repair to the bride's 
house, and proceeding thence, after supper, to the house 
of the bridegroom, they find most of the persons assem- 
bled who have been invited to the wedding. The bride- 
groom and shebeen, or brideman, do not, at first, make 
their appearance, but, after a short search, are discovered 
lurking, as it were, on purpose, in a dishabille not suited 
to the approaching ceremony. From their refuge they 
are led in triumph round the court-yard, amid the shouts 



26 



The Old World— Palestine. 



of the assembly, and then conducted into a chamber to 
dress, where the wedding garments are ready displayed ; 
but, before these are put on, a priest pronounces a long 
benediction over them. When the bridegroom is dressed, 
he is again obliged to make several turns in procession, 
in the same manner as before. The women all this time 
remain in a separate apartment. 

" About midnight all the men and most of the women, 
each carrying a wax taper, set out in procession, preceded 
by a band of music, in order to fetch the bride. Upon 
their arrival at her house they are refused admission, a 
party of the bride's kindred standing ready to dispute the 
entrance ; and, in consequence of this, a mock skirmish 
usually ensues, in which the bridegroom's party is always 
victorious. The women, now advancing to the inner 
apartments, soon return in triumph with the bride, who 
is entirely covered with a large veil, and attended only by 
her shebeeny, or bridesmaid, and one or two female rela- 
tions, for the mother and nearest kindred are not, by cus- 
tom, allowed to accompany her. The paternal house is 
in deep affliction at her departure, but she is received by 
the expecting crowds with repeated shouts of joy, and in 
that manner conducted to the bridegroom's house. Their 
course, however, is extremely slow, for decorum impera- 
tively requires that every step of the bashful bride toward 
the abode of her destined spouse should be made with 
the utmost seeming reluctance. A very bad opinion, in- 
deed, would be conceived of the girl who, on such an 
occasion, did not consume an hour, at least, in walking 
a distance of ten minutes. Just in the inverse ratio of 
her speed is the honor due to her virtuous breeding and 
maiden modesty. 

" On her passing the threshold she is saluted with a 
general zilarett, a shrill, vibrating cry uttered by the 



Entrance into Palestine. 



27 



Arab women on joyful occasions, made by a quick and 
somewhat tremulous application of the tongue to the 
palate, producing the sound treli li li li li li li, repeated 
as often as can be done with one breath (the same as we 
have ourselves just heard from the women and young 
girls forming the marriage procession, witnessed by us 
this evening) ; and, after the long veil has been exchanged 
for one of red gauze, she is led into a long apartment, 
and seated in state at the upper end upon the deewan. 

" In this situation it would be an offence to decency to 
utter a syllable or to smile, she being by etiquette obliged 
to remain all the time with her eyelids shut, but she is 
prepared to rise up and kiss the hand of every female 
who enters the room to congratulate her, each being an- 
nounced by a person placed near her on purpose. The 
women pass the remainder of the night in loud rejoicings, 
while the men, on their part, are not less noisy. There 
is abundance of arrack, wine, coffee and other refresh- 
ments, and only a few of the elderly guests retire to rest. 
When it happens that the house is not sufficiently large 
to afford separate apartments for the men and women, an 
adjoining house is borrowed for the reception of the men. 

" About nine in the morning, the bishop, or, in the 
lower ranks, a priest, comes to perform the nuptial cere- 
mony. The music ceases the moment he enters, and a 
respectful silence reigns through the house. The women 
all veil for his reception, and, as soon as he is robed in 
his canonicals, he enters the harem, followed by the bride- 
groom and the men in select procession. The bride ap- 
pears, standing in front of the deewan, supported by two 
women besides the shebeeny ; the rest of the women fill 
up the space behind. The bridegroom, dressed in a 
kind of splendid robe, and attended by the shebeen, is 
placed on the bride's left hand. The bishop then pro- 



28 



The Old World — Palestine. 



ceeds, and, in the course of the nuptial service, puts a 
crown, first on the head of the bridegroom and next upon 
the bride's ; he afterward crowns both the shebeen and 
the shebeeny. The man answers audibly to the usual 
matrimonial question, but the consent of the woman is 
denoted by a gentle inclination of the head. The bishop 
immediately joins their hands, and, after several prayers 
and benedictions, puts a ring upon the bridegroom's 
finger, delivering another to the shebeeny, to be put on 
the finger of the bride. Toward the conclusion of the 
service, the bishop ties a piece of ribbon round the bride- 
groom's neck, which remains till a priest in the afternoon 
comes to take it off. 

" The ceremony thus finished, the men return to the 
outer apartments, where, it being too early for the whole 
company to dine, a dinner is served up to the bishop and 
his suite with a few select persons. The pause occasioned 
by the bishop's presence is at an end the moment he quits 
the house ; the music then strikes up in full chorus, and, 
as if to make up for time lost, the noise on all hands is 
redoubled. The Christians, on these occasions, are more 
noisy than the Mohammedans, for, besides the musical 
band, which performs almost incessantly, many of the 
men join with the professed singers in the chorus. Some 
of them also show their skill in dancing, which they sel- 
dom do on any other occasion. Interludes of buffoons 
and jugglers are, from time to time, introduced by way 
of variety. The company pass the whole day in this 
manner ; arrack and wine circulate briskly ; the table at 
dinner and supper is covered with profusion ; and fruits, 
sweetmeats, coffee and tobacco are served at intervals. 

" Between eleven and twelve at night, the bridegroom, 
accompanied by a few of the near relations, is introduced 
into the women's apartment, where a collation of fruit 



Entrance into Palestine. 



29 



and wine is prepared. The bride receives him standing 
up, and is. with difficulty, prevailed on at his entreat}- to 
resume her place. This interview is soon over. for. after 
the young couple have drunk a glass to each other, the 
bridegroom drinks a bumper to the female guests, and 
then returns to the companv. who are waiting without to 
receive him with loud acclamations. 

The remainder of the night is spent in the same way 
as the preceding one. Xext morning, the bridegroom 
presents jewels and other ornaments to his wife : her 
kindred, at the same rime, making her presents in money. 
It is not rill after some davs that others, who have been 
invited to the wedding, send presents of various kinds, 
and that she receives con°Tatulatorv messages and flowers 
from her acquaintance. 

' ; The nuptial feast concludes with a collation on the 
afternoon of the third day. after which the whole com- 
pany take leave, except a few intimate friends, who stay 
to sup with the bridegroom, and consign him. at mid- 
night, in a condition most heartily fatigued, to the arms 
of his bride. 

" The succeeding week is rilled up in receiving compli- 
mentary messages ; and. on the seventh day. the bride 
entertains her mother and near relations, who come then 
to pay their first visit. 

However the other women may be amused, the, bride 
herself enjoys but a small share in the pleasures of the 
wedding-festivities. The ceremonies she is obliged to go 
through for three days are fatiguing to the last degree, 
and the incessant din, joined to the natural timidity of the 
sex, keeps her in a state of perpetual anxietv. As she 
knows herself exposed to the captious observation of her 
own sex. she dreads to move a limb, lest it should be 
censured as an offence against the decorum of her situa- 



30 



The Old World — Palestine. 



tion ; and, if those whose office it is to take care of her 
refreshments should happen to neglect their duty, she 
dares hardly venture to open her lips to ask for a glass 
of water. I have heard several married ladies describe 
the distress of their situation with much pleasantry. 
Some have assured me, that they were not only half 
frightened out of their wits by the incessant bustle and 
sudden shouts, but in risk, also, of perishing from thirst, 
being neglected by the servants in the hurry of their at- 
tention to the company. Besides these restrictions, which 
terminate with the three ceremonial days, the newly- 
married woman is enjoined strict silence for the space of 
a month, and must consider it an indulgence if allowed 
to utter a few words to her husband. Among the Ar- 
menians, this term is said to be protracted to a twelve- 
month. It is sometimes jocosely remarked by the hus- 
bands that when their wives are particularly observant 
of the precepts they receive on this head from the old 
women, they seldom fail to make up for it by their lo- 
quacity after the expiration of the term." 

Next morning, before starting for Jerusalem, we ride 
through Jaffa, and make a special point of visiting the 
house of " Simon the Tanner, by the sea-side." The 
town is located on a high mound, and the streets, which 
are paved with rough stones, are very difficult of ascent 
and descent. Not only are they steep and rough, but so 
filthy that it is anything but pleasant to go through them. 
The houses are built mostly of stone, but without a single 
convenience or comfort about them. They look pictur- 
esque, at a distance, but, when you see them closely, they 
present little more than bare walls. The present popu- 
lation of the town is said to be about six thousand. The 
house of " Simon the Tanner," so called, is a rough 
stone, two-story building, situated near the sea. The tra- 



Entrance into Palestine. 



3i 



dition which marks this as the site of the house is of 
long standing, and we see no reason to doubt its cor- 
rectness. 

We also ride out to the "American Colony" — about 
half a mile from Jaffa — about which so much has been 
said and written of late. The buildings and improve- 
ments, thereabouts, look more like enterprise than any- 
thing in Syria, and it only takes half an eye to observe 
that Yankees are about. The houses are of frame, the 
lumber of which was brought from America in the same 
ship that brought over the colonists. As the affairs of 
this so-called "colony" have excited a good deal of angry 
discussion, a few words of its history may prove of in- 
terest. 

Some two years ago a Mr. Adams (Eld. G. J.) came 
to Syria, as a tourist. On his return to the United States 
he traveled through some of the Eastern States, delivering 
lectures, the burden of which was that " Messiah was 
soon to return and re-establish Israel." He organized 
what he called the " Church of the Messiah," of which 
he himself became the " President," and then proposed 
that such of his followers as felt disposed should join 
him in establishing a colony in Palestine, as one of the 
appointed means of God whereby Israel was to be re- 
stored. He represented to his hearers that Jaffa was the 
natural sea-port of" Syria ; that, " in the restoration of 
Israel, it must soon become a large and beautiful city ;" 
and that land, or town lots, purchased near there, must 
so increase in value that the possessors would speedily 
become rich. The enterprise, as he represented it, was 
to possess the double character of religion and specula- 
tion — the first, to help the coming of the Messiah, the 
second, to help themselves. 

Thirty families, including one hundred and fifty-six 

3 * 



32 



Entrance into Palestine. 



souls, agreed to unite with him in the enterprise, and 
such of them as had funds made advance payments 
to him on the town lots, the plot for which, about 
seven acres, he had made partial arrangements to pur- 
chase while in Syria, some twelve months before, at a 
cost of seven hundred and fifty pounds sterling. They 
chartered a ship, loaded it partly with lumber and provis- 
ions, and in September, 1866, landed at Jaffa. Long before 
they reached their destination, serious difficulties arose 
among this motley crew of religious speculators, and from 
that time until the present, criminations and recriminations 
have been constantly going on among them. Soon after 
their arrival eleven of the number died, and many others 
were sick. Those opposed to Mr. Adams say that all 
these deaths are attributable to his negligence in failing 
to procure them such accommodations as he had promised 
on their arrival. Mr. Adams and his friends say that he 
did all, and more than he had promised. Notwithstand- 
ing all these difficulties and discouragements, they imme- 
diately proceeded to erect houses on the town lots they 
had purchased, and now have several very respectable 
Yankee houses put up or in the course of erection. They 
also rented a considerable tract of land near Jaffa, and 
now have growing some three hundred acres of wheat, 
one hundred and fifty acres of barley, fifty acres of beans, 
and a large field of potatoes. 

The dissenters, who number about one-third of the 
original colonists, have appealed to the United States 
Minister at Constantinople, and to the United States 
Consul at Jerusalem, for redress against Mr. Adams and 
his associates, and the matter, for some time past, has 
been undergoing investigation. 

We very much regret that any difficulty should have 



The Old World — Palestine, 



33 



arisen among these colonists ; for, viewed simply as an 
enterprise, apart from the religious idea connected there- 
with, the example which they could and would have set 
the Syrians of American ingenuity, thrift, and go-a-head- 
ativeness, could not have failed to work a wholesome 
influence. 

It is noon of March 21st when we finally turn our 
backs upon Jaffa, with our faces toward Jerusalem. Our 
tents and baggage have preceded us to Ramlah, where 
we ordered them pitched for the night. Our course is 
over the plain of Sharon, one of the most beautiful in the 
world — constantly reminding us of our Western prairies. 
Wild flowers bloom everywhere, and every now and then 
Lily and Lu stop to gather some of the choicest, but of 
the far-famed rose of Sharon few, if any, are now to be 
found. It is nearly five o'clock when we reach Ramlah, 
but, before dismounting, we ride to the old square tower, 
on the outer edge of the town, from which to have 
another view of the plain of Sharon and the surrounding 
country. 

This tower is of Saracenic architecture, and rises to a 
height of probably eighty feet. The top is reached from 
a winding staircase within, which is, by no means, easy 
to climb. Once up, however, the view amply repays the 
labor. On the east the hills of Ephraim and Judah rise 
in majestic grandeur, while, to the west, the blue sky, 
and no less blue waters of the Mediterranean, bound the 
vision ; to the northward the plain of Sharon stretches 
out far toward the land of the Philistines, while to the 
southward the same beautiful plain extends as far as the 
eye can reach. At our feet lies the village of Ramlah, 
with its convents, and mosques, and ruins of ancient 
date ; while only a little way off the ancient Joppa (Jaffa) 
of biblical history lifts its head over the waters of the sea. 



34 



The Old World — Palestine. 



It is dusk of evening before we descend from the tower, 
and nearly dark before we reach our tents on the plain 
near Ramlah. 

Another traveler, who passed over this same route, and 
saw the plain at a season when Nature had put on her 
loveliest garb, thus describes it : 

" For nearly two miles after leaving the town our road 
lay through the richest and most beautiful garden of 
orange and lemon trees, then covered with fruit and 
flowers, and tall, waving cypresses, corals, and fragrant 
mimosas ; intersected with enormous nopals, or prickly 
pears, with the scammony in flowers twining through 
their invulnerable armor. We saw extensive water-melon 
beds, the fruit of which, having just come to maturity, 
were guarded by men sitting under temporary sheds 
erected for the purpose ; the sight immediately brought 
to our recollection Isaiah's striking image of loneliness, 
4 The daughter of Zion is left as a lodge in a garden of 
cucumbers (c. i., v. 5). The water-melons, or fasteques, 
grown here are peculiar to the district of Jaffa, and are 
said to degenerate if transplanted elsewhere. They are 
justly celebrated throughout the Levant for their exqui- 
site flavor and their refreshing coolness. 

" From hence to Ramlah, our way lay again through the 
plain of Sharon, one of the most fertile and beautiful in 
the East. Although not a sixth part of it is cultivated, 
yet where it was tilled the crops looked most luxuriant. 
Upon a space of ten or twelve acres, I observed fourteen 
ploughs at work ; and so simple and light is the construc- 
tion of these implements that the husbandman, when 
returning from his labor in the evening, takes his plough 
home upon his shoulder. The share is of wood, and 
armed only at the end with a tooth or point of iron, 
which, of course, does little more than scratch the ground. 



Entrance into Palestine. 



35 



The beam is very slender, as well as the rude handle by 
whieh it is directed. I do not think we passed a dozen 
head of cattle of any kind : but the monotony of the 
** plain is occasionally relieyed by groves and clumps of 
aged and magnificent olives, which give it quite the ap- 
pearance of a well laid-out English park or demesne. 
Most of these oliyes must be centuries old. from their 
great size and proverbial slowness of growth ; and are 
probably the lineal descendants of those we read of in 
David's time, which were so plentiful in the low plains 
that Baal Hanan, the Gadite, was placed as overseer over 
them. Numbers of tall white storks paced about through 
the groves, like so many spectres, enjoying their solitary 
grandeur amid the scenes of other days. The day was 
delightful : a light breeze refreshing the traveler and the 
weary pilgrim as they journeyed to the holy city ; the 
fields were decked with thousands of gay flowers — the 
scarlet anemone, and a beautiful specimen of small red 
tulip, intermingled with the white cistus, the pink phlox, 
and the blue iris, and with crimson and white asters, 
asphodels, and lilies, forming an enameled carpet that 
perfumed the air, and offered a scene replete with every- 
thing- that could gratify the eye or charm the imagination. 
This plain of Sharon is about fifteen miles broad, and 
nearly twice as many long, bordered on the one side by 
the blue waters of the Mediterranean, and the rugged 
hill-country of Judea on the other. Writers, who have 
described the 6 goodly land' of Palestine as so unfertile as 
to warrant the assertion of Voltaire, that he would not 
receive a present of it from the sultan, can never have 
beheld the plain of Sharon when arrayed in the lovely 
garb of spring. After harvest, indeed, the scene changes, 
when the sun scorches up every trace of herbage, leaving 
the red soil exposed, with nothing to break the melancholy 



36 The Old World — Palestine. 

\ 

monotony of its aspect except the pale foliage of an olive 
or the motionless shade of a mastic. 

" Ramlah, the ancient Arimathea, the city of 'Joseph 
the counselor, the good man and just,' is a wretched, di- * 
lapidated place, but exhibits marks of having once been 
a more extensive and flourishing town than it is at pre- 
sent. The only monument of importance belonging to 
it is the Martyr's Tower, situated about a quarter of a 
mile from the town. It is attached to a building: of great 
extent, consisting of rows of Gothic arches, like cloisters, 
and has itself much the appearance of one of our old 
cathedral towers. The view, from the top, is very 
splendid." 

We had nearly forgotten to mention our visit to ancient 
Lydda, now called Ludd, while on our way from Jaffa 
to Ramlah. A detour of some three miles from the main 
road carries us to this village, at which we dismount to 
examine the ruins of the once magnificent church of St. 
George, so often spoken of in the history of the Crusaders. 
Only a small portion of the structure now remains, but 
quite enough to show its former grandeur. A Moslem 
minaret near by has been built from the stones of the an- 
cient church, and no better evidence is needed of the dif- 
ference between the class of men who lived in Syria then 
and those now residing here than a glance at the archi- 
tecture of these two edifices. We cannot but exclaim, in 
the words of another, " How has the mighty fallen !" 

Next morning, bright and early, we are on our horses 
and away for Jerusalem. Our eyes long to look upon 
the city of the great king — upon the city where Jesus 
lived, and died, and rose again — and we hasten onward. 

About three hours from Ramlah, we pass a small village 
called Latrone, the birth-place, as it is believed, of the 
penitent thief, who said to Jesus, in the hour of his ex- 



Entrance into Palestine, 



37 



tremity, "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy 
kingdom," and to whom the Saviour replied, " To-day 
shalt thou be with me in Paradise." 

A little further on, we reach a small village called Em- 
mouse, which is generally conceded to be the Emmaus 
to which two of the apostles were journeying when 
Jesus, after his resurrection, joined them on the way, and 
" expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things 
concerning himself ;" and to which village he accompa- 
nied them, and, after tarrying and breaking bread with 
them, " vanished out of their sight." 

From this point, and up the mountains of Ephraim, 
the road, or path (fot all the roads of Syria are only 
paths), becomes more difficult, and, at times, almost im- 
passable, because of roughness and steepness. Indeed, 
with all our experience and reading, we had never, con- 
ceived the possibility of such roads as these, and, but for 
the wonderful agility and sure-footedness of our horses, 
we should never have got over them alive. No American 
horse, unused to such steep, rocky paths, could travel 
over them for a single mile without breaking his neck 
or his legs, and nothing short of actual seeing could 
have convinced us that any horse could do so. To ride 
over and on the top of stone fences, ascending and de- 
scending at an angle of, at least, forty-five degrees, would 
be considered quite a feat in an American horse, and yet 
this would be nothing in comparison with riding over 
some of the mountain-paths between the plains of Sharon 
and Jerusalem. We tremble for Lily and Lu as our 
horses pass over some of these terrible ascents and descents 
of broken rock ; but, thanks to a good Providence, our 
horses never once miss their foothold from the plain of 
Sharon to the gates of Jerusalem. 

After leaving Emmouse, the next point of interest is 



38 



The Old World— Palestine. 



the valley of Ajalon, near Yalo. Here it was that the 
armies of Israel fought with the Amorites, and where, at 
the command of Joshua, " the sun stood still, and the 
moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves 
upon their enemies." 

We pass several wells and cisterns on the road of more 
or less celebrity, at one of which we stop for luncheon ; 
also several Arab villages, here and there, on the moun- 
tain slopes, but nothing more of biblical interest attracts 
our attention until we reach the dry bed of the brook, in 
the valley of Elah, from whence David gathered the peb- 
bles with which to slay Goliath. We, too, gather some 
pebbles from the bed of the brook as mementoes of the 
place, and then hurry on, and on, to Jerusalem. 

The road, it seems to us, grows rougher and longer 
the nearer we approach the Holy City, and again and 
again we wonder how it could come to pass that God 
would permit the placing of his most holy temple in the 
midst of a country so rugged and desolate. Was it that 
the toilsomeness of the journey thither, and the utter 
desolation which meets the eye at every step, should cre- 
ate a more lively appreciation of Jerusalem when once 
reached ? We hope so, and still press our jaded horses 
onward, that we may have a glimpse, at least, of the 
Holy City before the sun goes down. At length we reach 
the summit of a rocky path, and, rising in our stirrups, 
catch the first faint glimpse of the Mount of Olives and 
the walls of Jerusalem ! 

To show that we are not alone, or singular, in our de- 
scription of the desolation of the country, and the terrible 
condition of the road between Ramlah and Jerusalem, 
we will again quote from the author from whom we 
quoted that glowing description of the plain of Sharon. 

He says : " When we reached the hill-country of 



Entrance into Palestine, 39 



Judea, a complete change came over the scene. The 
eye was no longer refreshed with verdant sward, and the 
beauty of the plain we had traversed after leaving Joppa ; 
and the hum of bees, the low of cattle, and even the 
music of the goat's bell was no longer heard. A solemn 
wildness reigns in these elevated regions, the hills of 
which rise in concentric circles, one above another, the 
naked strata of gray limestone protruding at regular in- 
tervals, like so many seats in a stadium. The road was 
a mere horse-track, rough and stony as if it had been the 
bed of a river ; but the dreariness and monotony of the 
view were occasionally relieved by valleys and ravines 
clothed with low wodcls of dwarf oak, which was then 
putting forth its young leaves and long green catkins. 
Every place seemed admirably adapted for robbery ; but 
we passed all the defiles without meeting with a human 
being. 

" While musing upon the great events of which this 
country has been the seat, I was struck by the announce- 
ment of mid-day from a little mosque on a peak in the 
midst of the wildest part of the hills. Although it came 
from a Mohammedan minaret, there was something 
deeply impressive in the exclamation, ' God is great !' 
the only sound that broke the almost death-like stillness 
of the grand solitudes through which we were filing. 

" About midway to Jerusalem, we passed through a 
deep, narrow gorge, wooded to an extent that we could 
scarcely have imagined, from the rocky and barren desert 
in which it was situated. The ascent out of this valley 
is fearfully precipitous, and has long been noticed in 
modern history as the hiding-place or fastness of the 
lawless Bedouin. A large band of Ibrahim Pasha's 
cavalry was here completely destroyed. The huge rocks, 
the close wood on either side, and the overhanging crags 



4-0 The Old World— Palestine. 



form a complete cover for the enemy, who might attack 
the largest body of men passing through it, while they 
would remain secure from harm, especially from horse- 
men. This valley is probably the Bethhoron of Scripture ; 
ascending from it the traveler again enters upon the rug- 
ged Apennine country, from whose heights he has a last 
glimpse of the blue waters of the Mediterranean. 

" We next arrived at the Valley of Jeremiah — on all 
hands a melancholy solitude ! Here, it has been conjec- 
tured, stood the village in which the prophet was born. 
At one end of it is a castle, singularly situated on a rock ; 
it is still called Modin — is still a place of great strength, 
and is known as occupying the site of the city and tombs 
of the illustrious and patriotic Maccabees. 

" From the long and sterile valley of Jeremiah the 
road passes through a narrow gullet into a smaller tract, 
wherein are a few villages and patches of vineyards. At 
the end of the defile runs a brook into the valley of Elah, 
or the Terebinthine Valley, whence it is said David 
picked up the stones with which he slew Goliath ; on the 
left hand rose the hills toward Samaria, bleak and 
desolate. The road now becomes more rocky, the scene 
more wild and cheerless, and no object presents itself to 
arrest the traveler's attention, or to beguile, for a moment, 
his impatience for the first sight of the Holy City. At 
length it opens upon him at the issue from a defile. The 
view of it from this approach is sudden and near, and 
for that reason, perhaps, more impressive than if the 
mind had been prepared for it by a more distant vision. 
The first involuntary exclamation that bursts forth is that 
which prophecy has said shall be in the mouth of ' all 
that pass' — ' Is this the city that men call the perfection 
of beauty, the joy of the whole earth ?' It is impossible 
that 'any delineation can be more just or any image more 



Entrance into Palestine. 



4i 



vivid than is contained in these few words : ' How doth 
the city sit solitary !' The sight carried across a tract of 
gray, desolate, and barren rock, and the ruins of the 
Moslem burial-ground, with crumbling tombs on every 
hand, rests upon a bare dead wall, above which little is 
seen but the graceless domes of houses, and the tops and 
minarets of a few mosques, and the wild hills in the dis- 
tance beyond Jordan, at the foot of which lies the Dead 
Sea. Scarcely a sign of vegetation can be traced, with 
the exception of the leaden green of a few ragged olives ; 
and the city, placed on the brow of the hill, as if an ob- 
ject for observation, looks as if a portion of it had fallen 
down the steep, and presents one of the most gloomy and 
melancholy spectacles that imagination can conceive." 



CHAPTER II. 



"CITY OF THE GREAT KING:' 

NO one should ever have his first view of Jerusalem 
from the Jaffa road. Better go five, yes, fifty miles, 
around and approach the Holy City from the Damascus 
road, or, still better, from the Mount of Olives, than have 
your heart sink within you from disappointment in first 
viewing the city from the rough, barren hill-top of the 
road from Jaffa. 

In our mind the city of Jerusalem has always been as- 
sociated with beauty and loveliness. Notwithstanding its 
frequent destructions and oft-repeated desolations, and 
notwithstanding the curse of heaven, which we know has 
rested upon it from the hour of its rejection and cruci- 
fixion of the Divine Redeemer until the present, still, in 
our imagination, it has ever remained "the city of the 
great King," " the joy of the whole earth," " a thing of 
beauty and a joy for ever !" 

Judge, then, of our disappointment when, after hours 
of tedious travel over roads the worst we have ever seen, 
and over a country so dreary and desolate that the eye 
tires with the hideous deformity of nature everywhere 
present, we find Jerusalem to seem like a confused mass 
of rough stone walls, with here and there a Moslem 
minaret pointing derisively toward heaven. We say 

42 



"City of the Great King." 



43 



" seemed," for subsequent views from more favorable 
points change our first impressions somewhat, though at 
no time, during all our stay in Jerusalem, can we rid our 
mind of the unfavorable impression which our first view 
made upon it. 

The Russian convent, which stands upon a command- 
ing eminence just outside the Jaffa gate, is, by far, the 
best building, or collection of buildings, in or about Je- 
rusalem. It first meets the eve as we reach the summit 
of the Jaffa road, and beyond the walls we have a fine 
view of the Mount of Olives, but the greater portion of 
the city looks dark, dreary, and unsatisfactory ; and the 
utter desolation of the country around, which has but one 
exception in a small valley south of the city, adds much 
to the dreariness of the scene, and makes one feel from 
the very first that the curse of God rests upon this once 
favored city, and upon everything connected with it. 
Nor is this feeling at all changed by a closer inspection 
of it. The houses, generally, are mere stone walls, 
without a single comfort of civilization about them ; the 
streets are narrow, roughly paved, dirty, and in some 
places almost impassable either for horses or footmen ; 
the people, with but few exceptions, are hard-featured, 
miserably clad, and seem the very impersonation of 
squalid wretchedness ; while even the holy places about 
the city lose much of their solemnity and interest because 
of their miserable surroundings, and the class of persons 
with which one is constantly brought in contact in visiting 
them. 

Cursed of God, and cursed with men ; cursed within, 
and cursed without ; cursed in the rulers, and cursed in 
the ruled ; cursed in the past, and doubly cursed in the 
present, Jerusalem sits like a widow in her weeds, with 
none so poor as to do her reverence. Again and again, 



44 The Old World — Palestine. 



as we walk through its streets and view it from distant 
points, do the words of Jesus ring in our ears : 

" O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, 
and stonest them that are sent unto thee ; how often 
would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen 
doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would 
not ! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate ! " 

During our stay in Jerusalem we visit every place of 
biblical interest, and some of them again, and again, and 
again. We read what is written, and hear what is said, 
concerning each ; and endeavor, so far as is possible, to 
get a proper appreciation of all. To points that are 
merely traditionary we only give such credit as circum- 
stances and surroundings would seem to justify ; while 
to the eternal hills and valleys, about which there never 
has been, nor can be, any dispute, we give such attention 
and reverence as their importance demands. In our 
description of the Holy Places in Jerusalem and through- 
out Syria we shall represent them exactly as they are at 
present, giving such impressions of identity as force them- 
selves on our own mind while viewing them. 

And here we may say that our rule of identification is 
this : Where history and tradition both agree as to the 
spot, of course there can be no doubt ; where history and 
tradition point to different places, we always give prefer- 
ence to the former ; where history is silent and tradition 
of long standing fixes a locality, we credit it, unless 
natural obstacles, or other well-settled facts relative to 
corroborative subjects, contradict it ; where traditions 
conflict, we always give credit to the older ; and, as a 
good surveyor will never destroy even a poor landmark 
until he is able to establish a better one, so would we 
never wholly set aside even a tradition until we were able 
to substitute a fact therefor. 



* :e City of the Great King" 



45 



It should be borne in mind that in the early ages of the 
world tradition was their only history ; and, this being 
so, great pains were taken to transmit from father to son, 
and from son to son, every material fact bearing upon 
the history of nations, families, and localities ; and this 
habit being once established would naturally continue in 
strong force, even after written history came into general 
use. To such as are disposed to cavil at everything 
except where proof positive can be given, tradition is of 
little or no value, while at least two-thirds of their pleas- 
ure as travelers is irretrievably lost. We prefer to be 
occasionally mistaken than eternally doubting. If, in all 
this, our readers should think us over-credulous, they have 
only to throw in their doubts wherever it pleases them to 
do so, as we freely accord to others what we claim for 
ourself — the right to think and judge of each and every 
subject, independent of the thoughts and judgment of 
others. 

The first place of biblical interest which we visit in 
Jerusalem is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This 
we visit on the first morning of our arrival, and twice 
subsequently. The building is large, very irregular in 
form, and in bad repair. The principal dome, which has 
remained quite open ever since it was destroyed by fire 
(because of the dispute between the Greeks and Latins 
as to who should have the privilege of repairing it), is 
now undergoing repair, and will probably be completed 
within the coming year. We ascend to the dome, where 
the repairs are being made, and in descending we stop 
a while on the top of the edifice, from which we have an 
interesting view of the contiguous portions of the city 
and the distant hills. 

This church, it is said, covers not only the site of the 
Holy Sepulchre, but also the rock of Calvary ; the Stone 



4 6 



The Old World— Palestine. 



of Unction ; the places where Jesus appeared to Mary 
his mother after the resurrection, and also to Mary Mag- 
dalen ; the tombs of Adam, Joseph, Melchisedeck, Nico- 
demus, Godfrey, and Baldwin ; a part of the pillar of 
flagellation, which visitors have the privilege of touching 
with a stick through a hole in the wall ; the place of 
Christ's bonds ; the spot where the Empress Helena 
discovered what she thought to be the True Cross ; and 
some twenty other places designated as of more or less 
interest. 

The church is situated in a hollow, or what seems to 
have been a sort of amphitheatre. Before it is an open 
square court, one side of which is bounded by the church 
itself and the other three sides by buildings. Along the 
front of this court runs a narrow street or passage-way, 
with steps running down to and up from it. Around 
the court sit venders of beads, shells, crosses, and other 
Catholic emblems. 

" The approach to it from every direction," to use the 
graphic description of another, " lies through narrow, filthy 
lanes, and small bazaars generally filled with ragged 
Arab women, the venders of vegetables and snails, the 
latter of which are much eaten here, especially during 
Lent. After many crooked turnings we arrive in the 
large square court in front of the church. Here the 
scene exhibited, in the height of the pilgrim season, is of the 
most motley and extraordinary appearance. On the upper 
raised steps are tables spread with coffee, sherbet, sweet- 
meats and refreshments ; throughout the court are seated 
pedlers and the Bethlehemite venders of holy merchan- 
dise, such as crosses, beads, rosaries and amulets, and 
mother-o'-pearl shells, which are brought generally from 
the Red Sea, and engraved with religious subjects chis- 
eled in relief ; models of the Holy Sepulchre in wood 



"City of the Great King" 



47 



inlaid with mother-o'-pearl, and drinking-cups from the 
deposits of the Jordan, with verses from the Bible en- 
graved on them ; they are nearly as black as ebony and 
take a fine polish. Through these wares hundreds of 
persons pass and repass ; pilgrims of many nations in 
their different costumes ; Latin, Armenian, Russian, 
Greek, and Coptish friars, with Turkish, Arnaout, and 
Arab soldiers — all forming the most extraordinary scene 
that could be found in any spot upon the globe ; and a 
polyglot language is heard such as few other places in 
the world could exhibit." 

We enter the church by a low door, on the left of 
which sits a number of Turkish guards, and just beyond 
where they sit, and within the walls of the church, we 
can see their kitchen and cooking utensils. These guards 
are kept here day and night by the government, to keep 
the peace among the Latins, Greeks, Armenians, and 
other professing Christians, who claim jurisdiction over 
different parts of this edifice. It is a standing disgrace 
to the Christian world that the professed followers of 
Christ cannot live in peace and unity even within the 
walls which enclose the Holy Sepulchre ! Shame upon 
such Christianity ! 

The first object which strikes the eye as we enter, is 
the " Stone of Unction." This is a large flat marble slab, 
raised several inches above the floor, and over which 
numerous lamps are suspended, At almost any hour of 
the day, pilgrims from different parts of the world may 
be seen kneeling beside this stone and kissing it. Upon 
this stone, it is said, our Saviour's body was washed, 
anointed, and prepared for the tomb. 

Turning to the right from the Stone of Unction, we 
ascend a stairway to a neatly-arranged chapel, at one side 
of which is said to be the rock of Calvary. By removing 



4 8 



The Old World— Palestine, 



a large gold plate, we thrust our hand through a hole in 
a marble slab and feel the sides of a hole in the natural 
rock, which is said to be the excavation in which the 
cross stood at the time of the crucifixion. By removing 
another long, narrow plate, about two feet to the right of 
the first, we thrust our hand down in the fissure of the 
rock, which, it is said, was made when " the earth did 
quake and the rock rent" at the time of the crucifixion. 
While examining these, Lily sits down on the marble 
slab wtule she thrusts her hand in the hole of the cross, 
seeing which a Greek priest, standing near, becomes very 
indignant and splutters around furiously, but what he 
says we neither know nor care. It is, in his eyes, doubt- 
less, a terrible sacrilege to sit down on this marble slab, 
but, in our eyes, it presents no more of sanctity than any 
other piece of marble hewn and fashioned by human 
hands. The fanaticism of the priests and monks of the 
Church of the Holy Sepulchre is wonderful to behold, 
and detracts much from the sanctity and interest of the 
place. 

As a further illustration of the fanaticism of the monks, 
and that our readers may learn something of their doings 
.at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre during festive oc- 
casions, we beg to transcribe, from a work called " Three 
Weeks in Palestine," the following graphic account 
of the celebration of " Good Fi'iday :" 

" On this night the monks of the Latin convent per- 
formed the ceremony of the crucifixion. The doors w~ere 
open at an early hour for a short time and then closed 
for the night, so that we were obliged to be there two or 
three hours before the ceremony began. Most of the 
pilgrims had prepared against the tediousness of waiting 
by bringing with them their beds, mats, and coverlets ; 
and all around the floor of the church, men, women, and 



"City of the Great King." 49 

children were taking an intermediate nap. The proceed- 
ings commenced in the chapel of the Latin convent, 
where priests, monks, and the prior with his gold mitre 
and black velvet cloak trimmed with gold, and some other 
dignitaries of the church, were present, all very richly 
dressed. 

" On a large cross was a jointed figure representing the 
Saviour — the crown of thorns on his head, nails in his 
hands and feet, blood trickling from them, and a gaping 
wound in his side. Before setting out on the procession 
the lights were extinguished ; and in total darkness a 
monk commenced a sermon in Italian. After it the 
candles were relighted, banners and crucifixes raised, and 
the procession moved round the church toward Calvary. 
Stopping at the Pillar of Flagellation, at the prison where 
they say Christ was confined, where the crown of thorns 
was put upon his head, where his raiment was divided, 
etc., and giving a chant and an address by one of the 
monks at each place, they wound round the church till 
they came back to the staircase leading to Calvary, and 
leaving their shoes below, mounted, barefoot, to the place 
of crucifixion. Here they first went to an altar on the 
right, where, as they have it, Christ was nailed to the 
cross ; and laying the figure down on the floor, although 
they had been bearing it aloft for more than two hours, 
they now went through the ceremony of nailing it ; and, 
returning to the adjoining altar, passed the foot of the 
cross through the marble floor, and with the bleeding 
figure upon it, set it up in the hole in the natural rock, 
according to the tradition, on the very spot where, eighteen 
hundred years ago, Christ was crucified. At the foot of 
the cross a monk preached a sermon in Italian, warm, 
earnest, and impassioned ; frequently turning round, and, 
with both hands extended, apostrophizing the bleeding 



50 The Old World — Palestine. 

\ 

figure above him. In spite of my skepticism and incre- 
dulity, and my contempt for monkish tricks, I could not 
behold this scene unmoved. Every attendant upon the 
crucifixion was represented ; for the governor of Jerusa- 
lem was present, with a smile of scorn upon his hand- 
some features, and Turkish and Mussulman soldiers 
breaking the stillness of the scene with loud laughs of 
derision ; and I could almost imagine that I heard the 
unbelieving Jews with gibes and sneers crying out, ' If 
he be the King of Israel, let him come down from the 
cross !' 

"After the body had remained for some time suspended, 
two friars, personating Joseph of Arimathea and Nico- 
demus, approached the foot of the cross ; and one of 
them on the right, with a long pair of pincers, took the 
crown of thorns from the head, waved it around slowly 
with a theatrically mournful air, kissed it, and laid it 
down on a table before him ; he then drew the long 
spikes from the hands and feet, and moving them around 
one by one slowly as before, kissed them and laid them 
also on the table. I never saw anything more affecting 
than this representation, bad as it was, of the bloody 
drama of the crucifixion ; and as the monks drew out the 
long nails from the hands and feet, even the scoffing Mus- 
sulmans stopped their laugh of derision. I stood by the 
table while they laid the body upon it and wrapped it in 
a clean linen cloth ; followed them when they carried it 
down from Calvary to the Stone of Unction ; and stood 
by the head of the stone while they washed and anointed 
it and prepared it for burial. As soon as the image was 
deposited on the slab, numbers of pilgrims came and 
prostrated themselves before it in the lowliest posture of 
Oriental abasement, rubbing their foreheads in the dust 
of the pavement, and imprinting kisses on the image and 



"Ct'ty of the Great King:' 



5i 



the marble on which it lay, with crossings, prayers, and 
tears, evincing every mark of sincerity. A Franciscan 
then came forward to address the surrounding multitude 
in Arabic. 

" At this period of the service the pictorial effect was 
magnificent and sublime. The scene was such as Rem- 
brandt would have excelled in, and such as Rembrandt 
alone could have painted. The lights and shadows cast 
by the numerous torches were equal to the finest effect of 
his imagination. In the centre stood the prominent 
figure of the group, the preacher, — a tall, handsome, but 
austere-looking Spaniard, whose eyes of the darkest hue 
flashed fire as he warmed in his subject. His Franciscan 
garb, bound not indeed with a leather girdle about his 
loins, -but with the knotted cord of his order — the Oriental 
tongue in which he spoke — his vehement, impassioned, 
but not ungraceful action — all combined to bring the 
Baptist vividly before the fancy. His audience too were 
strictly in keeping, and in costume and appearance ad- 
mirably represented those who flocked to hear the voice 
of him that cried in the wilderness. The turbaned heads, 
the bearded faces, the flowing robes — the wealthy Mar- 
onite and Armenian in garments of fine cloth and rich 
silks, standing beside the wild Arab in his simple shirt 
of blue cotton, and the fierce-looking Bedouin in his 
woolen burnoos, alternately striped white and brown — 
the Greek caloyer, with his raven locks flowing over his 
shoulders from beneath the quadrangular black cap, and 
a noble black beard ; and his lay countryman in his close 
red skull-cap, ornamented with a blue tassel, surmounting 
the same profusion of hair, richly embroidered vest and 
jacket, white petticoat and scarlet greaves, still ' the full- 
haired and well-greaved Greeks,' with various others, 

formed a group at once diversified and harmonious, with 
5 



52 



The Old World — Palestine. 



which our angular and scanty European habiliments did 
not assimilate." 

Descending from Calvary either by the Latin or the 
Greek stairs — for such is the enmity between the two that 
they have separate stairways by which to reach Calvary — ■ 
a few steps bring us to the Holy Sepulchre, immediately 
under the large dome. This consists of two chambers, 
the outer of which is about six feet by ten, and the inner 
about six feet square. In the centre of the outer is an 
upright polished stone representing the spot where the 
angel stood when he said to the Marys, " Fear not ye : 
for I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified: He 
is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the 
place where the Lord lay." Passing through this, we 
enter the tomb itself, the entrance to which is about two 
and a half feet wide by four high. On one side, and 
occupying nearly one-half of the width of the tomb, is a 
shelf, about two feet higher than the floor. On this the 
body was laid, and this we may add, from observations 
in Egypt and elsewhere, was the usual form of rock-hewn 
tombs. This rocky shelf is now covered with a marble 
slab, which was no part, however, of the original tomb. 
Overhead and about the tomb are forty-two gold and 
silver lamps suspended, many of which are kept con- 
stantly burning. Indeed, the whole of the tomb is so 
bedizened with gewgaws — beautiful 'tis true, but, as we 
think, entirely out of place — that no part of the original 
walls of the tomb are visible. Without, as well as 
within, the tomb is richly ornamented. Sixteen handsome 
columns surround it and support a gallery above ; while 
every part is overlaid with rich marbles and fashioned in 
the most beautiful style of art. We can understand and 
appreciate the devotional feeling which led to such pro- 
fuse ornamentation of the tomb of our Saviour ; and yet 



"City of the Great King." ' 53 



we cannot but feel that if the "sepulchre that was hewn 
in stone, wherein never man before was laid," had been 
left just as it was when Joseph, the counselor, finished 
it, and just as it was when the body of Jesus lay therein, 
it would excite far more veneration and interest. 

Russian and Greek pilgrims, before entering the tomb, 
usually take off their shoes, which they leave in charge 
of some one of their company at the outer door ; and 
some of them even crawl upon their hands and knees 
from the outer entrance to the stone within the tomb, 
and, once there, kiss and drop their tears upon it, while 
others rub their faces and hands, over and over again, 
upon the marble slab, as if they expected to retain for ever 
a portion of its sanctity ; but we do neither, though feel- 
ing and realizing the sanctity of the place, perhaps, quite 
as much as those who are more demonstrative. Indeed, 
such is the excess of fervor shown by many of the pil- 
grims who visit the tomb, and by the Greek priests and 
monks who have it in charge, that one becomes disgusted, 
rather than impressed, by their demonstrations. These 
excesses, as we think them — since God is a spirit and 
must be worshiped in spirit and in truth, rather than in 
outward observances — may be seen at almost any hour 
of the day when the church is open to visitors ; but they 
increase greatly in intensity upon certain festive and fast 
occasions, when Greek, Catholic, Syrian, Maronite, and 
Armenian seem to vie with each other in what they re- 
gard as demonstrative holiness or devotion. 

One of the most remarkable of these demonstrations, 
connected with the Holy Sepulchre, is the fast in the 
Greek church, which occurs on the Saturday following 
the guilt of the crucifixion, and preceding the hope of 
the resurrection ; on which occasion the Greek priests 
profess to call down from heaven, and impart to their fol- 



56 



The Old World— Palestine. 



and he staggered out again ; another made a similar at- 
tempt and was stopped by the same process. 

" It should be remarked that on the north and south 
sides of the little chapel which covers the sepulchre, in 
either wall, is a hole of an oval form, through which the 
fire issues for the two rival parties, the Greeks and Ar- 
menians. The Copts, Syrians, and Abyssinians are 
obliged to obtain it as they can in the general scramble, 
or buy it of the former at a high price, as they have no 
private holes of their own. 

"As the crisis approached, the skirmishes between 
Greeks and Armenians became severe. Toward two 
P. M. the Turkish governor entered, attended by his 
train and preceded by scourges, courbashes, and staves, 
all busily employed. The conflict throughout the church 
now grew general, and sticks and fists were engaged be- 
tween the contending zealots. The Mutesellim having 
given notice that he was ready, the Greek Patriarch, 
called ' the Bishop of the Fire,' was next introduced, 
heading a procession of order in their best clothes, who 
walked at a slow pace thrice round the sepulchre. 
At the end of the first round, as the mystic fire began 
to warm his intestines, his outer robe was removed ; 
at the second round his jacket and shirt were un- 
buttoned, and he appeared to be suffering under con- 
siderable increase of coke; at the third round the jacket 
was taken off, and, with his cheeks swollen as if pregnant 
of fire, and groaning like Stromboli, he was locked into 
the chapel. What he did within I know not for certain, 
but I conjecture that he drew a phosphorus box from the 
pocket of his breeches ( which had been advisedly left on 
him), and therewith lighted some tow and turpentine. 

" Without, expectation and expectants were on tiptoe, 
and every one was provided with a bunch of tapers, tied 



"City of the Great King" 



57 



fast round the wrist. Close to the Armenian hole, three 
men were posted in light-blue dresses, from whom, to a 
side door, an avenue was kept clear through the mob. 
They were provided with ten lamps, and, having received 
the fire before any of the other devotees, hurried out of 
the church, ducking down their heads to avoid the blows 
that were dealt at them, and surrounded by three or four 
others as protectors. The fire, thus filched, immediately 
appeared among the women stationed above in the Ar- 
menian gallery and chapel, who lighted their tapers and 
crossed themselves with them in every direction. Some 
of them pressed the fire against their bared breasts, and 
when their tapers were thus extinguished presently lighted 
them to repeat the same action. Others thrust them into 
caps and handkerchiefs, which they carried for that pur- 
pose, and, lighting them again and again, continually ex- 
tinguish them in the same manner. 

" Below, the fury of the combatants was at its height, 
and the church presented one general and ferocious con- 
flict. He who had obtained the fire of his party, and 
was not strong enough to secure his retreat, was severely 
beaten, and either his tapers were taken from him, or the 
fire put out ; and for this reason, some time elapsed before 
it was generally diffused throughout the church. It seems 
that the torches soonest lighted possess the greatest 
virtue, and, on that account, large sums are sometimes 
paid for the privilege of the first ignition. 'She torches 
are then extinguished, carried home by the pilgrims, and 
preserved for burning round their bodies after death. 

" At last the chapel and the Greek church beyond pre- 
sented one blaze of light, and the uproar subsided. 
Turkish guards had been posted in different places as 
moderators, to protect the lives of the combatants ; for, 
on previous occasions, this ceremony had been attended 



The Old World — Palestine. 



with distressing casualties. In former times, in order to 
increase the delusion practiced upon the devotees, a dove 
was let loose from the cupola of the tomb at the moment 
the sacred fire appeared, to represent the Holy Ghost ! 
This latter part of the impious farce has been discon- 
tinued for some years past. 

"After the fire function a little Spanish monk afforded 
much amusement by producing a phosphorus box, and 
showing up the trick to the Mntesellim, to whom the 
thing seemed quite new and unintelligible. The Spaniard 
was, in consequence, chaired and cheered through the 
gallery by the Franciscans, who bear no good feelings 
toward the Greeks. 

" Ten years ago a horrible catastrophe happened at the 
enactment of this ceremony. The air of the church had 
become so contaminated by the exhalations from the bodies 
of thousands crowded within it that many persons fainted ; 
terror, confusion, and a rush for the door ensued ; but as 
it turned inward it was impossible to get it opened, owing 
to the extreme pressure of the bewildered crowd against 
it. The governor of the city, who was present as a 
spectator in the Frank gallery, ran down and endeavored 
to restore order ; but he, too, was borne down by the 
pressure, and was, with great difficulty, saved, being, at 
last, carried out senseless over the heads of the people by 
a strong body of soldiers. By great exertion the guard 
forced back some of the crowd with the points of their 
weapons and opened the doors; it has been ascertained 
that not fewer than three hundred persons perished on 
that fearful night. Those concerned in the jugglery of 
this miraculous fire endeavored, by all possible means, 
to cloak the matter, and to prevent the exact number that 
were killed from being made public ; but the impression 
made on the minds of the people was so great that on 



"City of the Great King" 



59 



the next day the very same Armenian bishop who had 
assisted at the ceremony preached openly against its con- 
tinuance, and strongly urged the people not to require 
the performance of what they had been taught to believe 
was miraculous. The Greeks, however, persuaded him 
afterward to resume the farce which is found so profitable 
to the convents. The Latins, at present, hold the cere- 
mony in great contempt ; but, as we have already stated, 
it was originally their own invention." 

This same tourist and author was also present at an- 
other of the anniversaries celebrated at the Church of the 
Holy Sepulchre, and so vividly does he describe it, that 
we know our readers will be interested, as we have been, 
in reading his description. 

He says : " On Sunday morning, being Easter or Palm 
Sunday, I visited for the last time the Church of the 
Holy Sepulchre. It was more crowded than I had ever 
yet seen it. The court-yard literally swarmed with 
venders of amulets, crucifixes, and holy ornaments ; and 
within the church were tables of oranges, figs, dates, etc. 
The Arab baker was walking about with a large tray on 
his head crying his bread, and on each of the altars was 
a sort of shop, in which Greeks were making and selling 
chaplets and wreaths of palm leaves. It was altogether a 
lively image of the scene when Christ ' went into the 
temple and cast out them that bought and sold, and over- 
turned the tables of the money-changers.' The cere- 
monies of the day were in commemoration of that on 
which our Saviour entered Jerusalem riding upon an 
ass, when the multitude followed him, strewing their 
garments and branches of palm-trees in his path, and 
crying ' Hosannah to the son of David !' When I en- 
tered, the monks of the Latin convent were celebrating 
grand mass before the Holy Sepulchre ; and in the mean 



6o 



The Old World — Palestine, 



time the Greeks were getting ready for their turn. Their 
chapel was crowded, and all along the corridors the 
monks were arranging the people in procession, and dis- 
tributing banners, for which the young Greeks were 
scrambling ; and in one place a monk with a standard in 
his hand, which had just been handed down from above, 
with his back against the wall, was knocking and kicking 
away a crowd of young Greeks, struggling to obtain it 
for the procession. 

"As soon as the Latins had finished, the Arab soldiers, 
whom I always found regular attendants of these scenes, 
as if they knew what was coming when the Greeks 
began, addressed them with loud shouts of 'Yellah, 
yellah — come on, come on.' A large banner was stationed 
at the door of the sepulchre, and the rush of the pilgrims 
to prostrate themselves before it, and to touch it with their 
palm branches, was tremendous. A tall young Greek 
with a large turban on his head, while his left hand sup- 
ported the banner, was laying about him with his right as 
if he were really defending the sepulchre itself from the 
hands of the infidels. The procession advanced under a 
loud chant, preceded by a body of Turkish officers to 
clear the way ; then came the priests wearing their richest 
dresses, their mitres and caps richly ornamented with 
precious stones, and carrying aloft sacred banners, and 
one of them sprinkling holy water. Wherever he came 
the rush was terrible ; the Greeks became excited to a 
sort of frenzy in their eagerness to catch a drop ; and one 
strapping fellow, bursting through the rear ranks, thrust, 
his face over my shoulder and bawled out, ' Papa, papa,' 
in such an agonizing voice that the ' papa' aimed at him 
a copious discharge, of which my face received the prin- 
cipal benefit. When the largest banner came round, the 
struggle to touch it with the palm branches was incon- 



-City of the Great King? 



61 



ceivable. A Turkish officer had until this time covered 
me with his body, and by dint of shouting, kicking, and 
striking furiously about him, saved me till the procession 
passed by, but after this the rush became .dreadful. I 
could feel my ribs yielding under the pressure, and was 
really alarmed, when a sudden and might}- surge of the 
struggling mass hurried me into the stock in trade of a 
merchant of dates and oranges. Instead of picking up 
his goods, the fellow grappled at me. but I got out of his 
clutches as well as I could, and setting up for myself, 
kicked, thumped, and scurried until I made my way to 
the door ; and that was my last visit to the Church of the 
Holv Sepulchre." 

But enough for the present of these scenes of fraud, 
folly, and shame, and let us now proceed to inspect other 
parts of this vast edifice. 

From the front of the Holy Sepulchre we enter the 
Greek chapel, which is much the largest and best finished 
of any of the chapels connected with the church. Near 
the centre of the audience floor, and somewhat elevated, 
is a small marble globe, which, the Greeks say, marks the 
"centre of the world/' Exactly how a " centre" can be 
found on the outside of a globe, or exactly what this 
" centre" signifies or typifies, we are not informed. A 
Greek service is being performed during one of our visits 
to the chapel, and we cannot but observe its beauty and 
solemnity. 

There are nine other chapels and five altars connected 
with this church, over which Latins, Greeks, Armenians, 
Copts. Syrians, and Franks have separate and exclusive 
jurisdiction ; but simply as chapels and altars they have 
no special interest, and hence we shall not stop to describe 
them, except incidentally as they may be connected v with 
the death and resurrection of Jesus. 



62 



The Old World — Palestine. 



The place " where the Virgin Mary's body was anointed" 
is shown near the stairway leading to the Armenian chapel 
and lodgings. How her body came to be anointed just 
here, while as yet it was only a bleak and barren spot out- 
side of the city walls, and then carried to a tomb far down 
in the Valley of Jehosaphat, is not explained. 

Near the "Altar of Franks" the precise spot is 
pointed out where Jesus and Mary Magdalene stood when 
the former appeared to the latter as a" gardener" after 
his resurrection ; and where, by the utterance of that one 
simple yet touchingly beautiful word, "Mary," he was 
revealed unto her in his true character as the risen Re- 
deemer. 

In the church or chapel of the Latins a part of the 
pillar of flagellation is pointed out ; but as in this instance 
the hoi}'' object cannot be reached by the lips of the faith- 
ful, it is deemed equally efficacious to kiss it through an- 
other medium. A monk stands near the rail, and touch- 
ing the pillar with a long stick that has a piece of leather 
at the point of it, like a billiard cue, stretches it toward 
the lips that are ready pouting to receive it. Here, also, 
the precise spot is shown where Christ appeared to his 
mother after resurrection ; and the place of recognition 
of the true cross. The "Church of Flagellation," which 
is said to be erected over the spot where Jesus was 
scourged, is some distance from the Church of the Holy 
Sepulchre ; but how it came to pass that a part of the 
pillar at which he was scourged found its way to the 
Latin chapel in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, we 
are not informed. 

" The organ of the Latins is a sore annoyance to their 
neighbors the Greeks, from whose religious sendee all 
instrumental music is excluded ; but they make up for 
that defect by the most discordant nasal singing imagin- 



"City of the Great King" 63 



able, each vying with his neighbor, and braying with a 
forty-nose power that would be really deafening by itself, 
were it not overcome by the noise that is produced by 
the beating of copper drums, about the size of boilers, 
belonging to the Armenians. There are so few Copts in 
the place that the sounds they make amount to little 
more than occasional whines. The chapel in which the 
organ stands is called the Chapel of the Apparition, where 
Christ appeared to the Virgin." 

Across a dark entry-way, to the left of the Greek chapel, 
the " place of Christ's bonds" is pointed out ; and imme- 
diately to the rear of this is a chapel dedicated to the 
Virgin. Returning to the passage-way, and going around 
the half circle in the rear of the Greek chapel, we come 
to the Chapel of the Centurion, who, at the moment when 
Jesus gave up the ghost, was constrained to cry out, 
" Truly this man was the Son of God ;" and near this, 
and within the same semi-circle, are the chapels of Part- 
ing the Garments, and of the Mocking, both of which are 
said to mark the spots where these events occurred. 

From this circular passage-way we descend forty-nine 
steps, cut in the solid rock, where we reach what is called 
the Chapel of St. Helena. This is a room excavated in 
the rock far below the floor of the church, and dedicated 
to Helena, the mother of Constantine. The chapel is 
fitted up in the usual gewgaw style, and has suspended 
from its roof a large number of lamps, some of which 
are kept constantly burning. 

From the Chapel of St. Helena we descend another 
flight of thirteen steps, cut in the rock, to the " Chapel 
of the Finding of the Cross." Just here, it is said, the 
indefatigable empress found the true cross, deeply im- 
bedded in earth and rock ; and so rejoiced was she that 

she at once ordered the excavation of a chapel in the 
6 



6 4 



The Old World — Palestine. 



solid rock, to commemorate the event. The place where 
the cross lay is marked by a marble slab, over which 
lamps are suspended ; and immediately to the right of 
this is another "Altar of the Franks." 

While we think some of the holy places about this 
church are worthy of credence, others are, no doubt, the 
mere localizing of monkish superstition, and only worthy 
of notice, or of mention, as illustrating the extent to which 
credulity can be carried. Thus we are shown a stone which 
is said to mark the exact spot where Abraham was about 
to sacrifice Isaac, and the monks state that when the cross 
was laid down, before it was raised, our Lord's head 
rested upon this spot ; and they seem to consider the 
establishment of this fact necessary to the complete fulfill- 
ment of the type. In another place we are shown a small 
door opening to a dark gallery, which leads, as the monks 
say, to the tombs of Joseph and Nicodemus* between 
which, and that of the Saviour, there is a subterranean 
communication. The tombs are excavated in the rock 
which here forms the floor of the chamber. " Without 
any expectation of making a discovery," says Stephens, 
"I remember that once, in prying about this part of the 
building alone, I took the little taper that lighted the 
chamber and stepped down into the tomb ; and I had 
just time to see that one of the excavations never could 
have been intended for a tomb, being not more than three 
feet long, when I heard the footsteps of pilgrim-visitors, 
and scrambled out with such haste that I let the taper 
fall, put out the light, and had to grope my way back in 
the dark." Aiid in still another, beneath one of the altars, 
lies a stone having a hole through it, and placed in a short 
trough, so that it seems impossible for anything but a 
spectre to pass through the hole. Nevertheless the achieve- 
ment was a customary penance among the Greeks, and 



"City of the Great King." 



65 



called by them " purgatory ;" until a lady, enceinte, in 
laboring to*drag herself through it, came to some mis- 
chief ; and ever since that accident the Turks have in 
mercy guarded the stone by an iron grating. 

Thus we close our description of the Church of the 
Holy Sepulchre — a description which might have been 
lengthened to a dozen chapters had we felt so disposed, but 
which we have condensed in the smallest possible space, for 
the reason that only such parts as relate to the death and 
burial of Christ have any real value in our eyes. And 
even these parts are so obscured by the gauze and tinsel 
of over-zealous religionists that, to us, much of their 
original grandeur and interest is destroyed. As well 
might one attempt to "gild refined gold or paint the lily" 
as to place marbles and lamps, and pictures and tapestry, 
around the tomb of Jesus ! 

- As to the identity of the tomb, we have only to say that, 
after carefully reading the arguments for and against it, 
and after examining the spot and surroundings for ourself, 
we are content to believe that this is the identical tomb in 
which the body of the Redeemer lay ; and the rock near 
by the identical one in which, or upon which, the cross 
stood at the time of the crucifixion. As to the spots 
pointed out where this, that, and the other event took 
place at the crucifixion, and after the resurrection, we 
think them all conjecture, though quite as likely to be 
right as wrong ; and whether right or wrong, makes no 
difference whatever, since all interest is concentrated in 
two and only two localities — namely, the place of cruci- 
fixion and the place of burial. 

Excavations are now going on near the Damascus gate, 
under the direction of an officer of the British army, 
which may throw new light on the question of localities ; 
but until new facts are presented sufficient to destroy a 



66 The Old World— Palestine. 



well-defined tradition of only about three hundred years 
from the time of Jesus to the time of the Empress Helena, 
and unquestionable historical records from that time until 
the present, we shall be content, as before stated, to regard 
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as containing within 
its walls the two great landmarks of Christianity — namely, 
the place of crucifixion and the place of resurrection. 

We have neither time nor space at present to present 
any facts or arguments bearing upon this vexed question 
of locality, but after a somewhat careful consideration of 
the subject and an examination of the localities in dispute, 
we have arrived at the convictions above stated. 



CHAPTER III. 



IN AXD ABOUT JERUSALEM. 

AS incidents of travel, Ave mav mention that the first 
place at which we call, on reaching Jerusalem, is at 
the office of the American Consul, where we find sixteen 
letters and three packages of American newspapers 
awaiting us. and in the reading of which we have a 
feast such as onlv a traveler, more than six thousand 
miles away from home and without news from there for 
a month, can appreciate ; that our tents are pitched near 
the Jaffa gate, amid some twenty others, several of which 
r ear the American flag ; that on the night following we 
have a most fearful rain and wind storm, which comes 
very near overthrowing our tents, and the repetition of 
which, on the following night, forces us to take shelter in 
the Russian convent, near by. where we remain until we 
start for the Jordan and Dead Sea, a few days after : that 
the number of American travelers now in Jerusalem, and 
traveling through Syria, is far greater than ever was 
known before, and far exceeds in number those of any 
other nation, and who, so far as we have formed their 
acquaintanceship, are generallv such as represent Ameri- 
can thrift, enterprise and intelligence. 

Xext to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, our steps 
are naturally directed to the Garden of Gethsemane and 



68 



The Old World— Palestine. 



the Mount of Olives, than which no two spots about 
Jerusalem are of greater interest to the Christian traveler. 

The Garden of Gethsemane is situated on the easterly 
side of the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and nearly opposite the 
St. Stephen's gate. It is enclosed with a high stone 
wall, and has but one entrance, through a low doorway, 
near the south-east corner. The enclosure is about one 
hundred and fifty feet square, and laid out in four plats, 
each surrounded with a paling fence and tastefully planted 
with flowers and shrubs. Eight very old olive trees still 
stand within the enclosure, and the monk, in attendance, 
says they are of the time of the Saviour, but which one 
may well be excused for doubting. Around the walls, 
inside, are praying stations, each designated by a small 
picture ; and at the north-east corner is a small building 
in which the monks take shelter, in stormy weather, 
while in the garden. At each of our visits the old monk 
in attendance kindly gathers for Lily a beautiful bouquet 
of flowers, and on our last visit he presents her with some 
bulbous roots from the garden for transplanting in 
American soil. Should we succeed in having flowers in 
our home garden from roots taken from the sacred soil 
of Gethsemane, it will be one of the most interesting 
souvenirs of our visit to Palestine. 

Outside the wall, about ten paces from the doorway, 
the places are designated where Jesus, John, and Judas 
stood at the moment of betrayal. This, of course, is 
merely conjectural, though the faith of some is shown in 
the fact that when they approach the place they kneel and 
kiss the central stone, which is supposed to mark the ex- 
act spot where the Saviour stood when he said, "Judas, 
betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss ?" 

That these walls enclose a portion of the ground which 
was known in the days of our Saviour as the Garden of 



In and About Jerttsalem. 69 



Gethsemane, and that these olive trees have grown up 
from the roots of the very ones under which he prayed, 
and where "his sweat was as it were great drops of blood 
falling down to the ground," we have no doubt. Mr. 
Wild, a scientific observer, thinks there is nothing un- 
reasonable in imputing an existence of nineteen centuries 
to these trees. Tradition and history have always been 
uniform in fixing this as the identical place ; and though 
the Greeks have an enclosure on- the other side of the 
road which they claim (in opposition to the Latins) as 
the garden, none but themselves give the least credence 
to the claim. 

" This garden of Gethsemane occupies the very spot 
one's eyes would turn to, looking up from the page of 
Scripture. It was very near one of the most thronged 
and busy parts of Jerusalem, and yet it lies so low in the 
Valley of Jehoshaphat that not a sound from the busy 
hum of life could have reached its profound depth. On 
the west, the city walls and the high battlements of the 
Temple almost overhang the garden, while on the east 
the still loftier heights of Olivet cast their dark shade over 
the scene of the divine agony. Fitly had Judas chosen 
this gloomy scene for the perpetration of his black 
crime." 

We linger long and thoughtfully in this holy and beau- 
tiful spot, and endeavor to bring before our mind's eye the 
agony and shame of the scenes here enacted. Oh what 
agony of soul was that which could have wrung from the 
Saviour's lips those sad and solemn words : " My soul is 
exceeding sorrowful, even unto death !" 

" O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from 
me : nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." 

" O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from 
me, except I drink it, thy will be done." 



7o 



The Old World — Palestine. 



And then the shame of his betrayal by one who had 
been called, and loved, and trusted ; by one of whom the 
Saviour had said, " he dippeth his hand with me in the 
dish," as indicating the greater baseness of the betrayal ; 
by one who could only use that most sacred emblem of 
love, a kiss, to cover up the perfidy of an act baser and 
blacker than hell itself! 

Leaving Gethsemane, we ascend still eastward a very 
rough path, until we reach the summit of the Mount of 
Olives. Here we find a small village called Tur, and 
several Moslem edifices, one of which covers a rock, in 
which there is an indentation resembling somewhat the 
form which a human foot would make in soft clay. This, 
the monks say, is the imprint of the foot of Jesus as he 
ascended to heaven ; while the Moslems claim, with 
equal tenacity, that it is none other than the footprint of 
their own prophet, Mohammed. The Moslems who 
show us the place seem much impressed with the sacred- 
ness of the footprint, and insist that we shall place our own 
foot upon it, in order, we suppose, to make us more holy 
in the future. The Empress Helena erected a church 
upon this spot to commemorate the final ascension of our 
Lord, though many now think this may not have been 
the place of final ascension ; and the church itself has 
been superseded by a mosque. 

Close by this supposed imprint of a footstep — whether 
of Jesus, or Mohammed, or neither, the reader can form 
his own conclusions — there is a high tower or minaret, 
which we ascend, and from which we have a finer view 
of Jerusalem and the surrounding country than from any 
other point. At our feet runs the deep valley of Jehosha- 
phat, in which the well-cultivated garden-plots, and even 
the rough stone houses of the natives, look picturesque 
and beautiful ; the wall which surrounds the city can be 



In ana About Jerusalem. 71 

✓ 

seen in its entire circuit, and the buildings within the 
wall — especially the Mosque of Omar, on Mount Moriah 
— look at this distance ("distance lending enchantment to 
the view") like a picture set in a frame ; away off to the 
eastward the Dead Sea is plainly visible, while the Valley 
of the Jordan can be traced for miles above the sea ; to 
the northward, Mount Scopus, where Titus encamped 
his army prior to his attack upon the doomed city, rises 
majestically from the deep valley below ; while southward 
the mountains of the desert stretch far away until lost in, 
or blended with, the final view of the mountains of Moab, 
beyond the Jordan. Our view from this tower is not our 
first or last from the Mount of Olives, but it is certainly 
the most extensive, and, in many respects, the most satis- 
factory. 

There are still some olive trees on the sides and sum- 
mit of the mount, some of which are very old, and doubt- 
less have sprung up from the roots of those which existed 
in the days of Jesus. The number then, however, was 
probably much greater than now, and hence its name. 

The Mount of Olives must ever remain a place of 
peculiar interest to the followers of Jesus. Here it was 
that the Saviour frequently resorted, alone, or with his 
disciples, to meditate and pray, after having " taught the 
people in the temple," and been sorely tried by the way- 
wardness of the Scribes and Pharisees ; over this mount 
his weary footsteps tended as he ofttimes sought the quiet 
home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in the village of 
Bethany, part-way down on the other side from Jerusa- 
lem ; it was as he descended this mount, toward Jerusalem, 
that the " whole multitude of the disciples began to re- 
joice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty 
works that they had seen, saying, Blessed be the King 
that cometh in the name of the Lord : peace in heaven 



72 The Old World— Palestine. 



and glory in the highest ;" it was from this mount that he 
" beheld the city and wept over it ;" and from some place 
on this mount, near unto Bethany, he left his final bless- 
ing and ascended up into heaven. 

As to the identity of the Mount of Olives, there never 
has been and never can be any doubt. It towers heaven- 
ward to-day as it did in the days of our Saviour ; the rocks 
are now as then, and as we tread its sacred soil and gaze 
from its summit, we cannot but feel that we may be tread- 
ing the very path, and gazing at the very objects, on which 
he trod and gazed. God made Mount Olivet ! — man built 
Jerusalem ; and though the latter may be torn down and 
rebuilt a thousand times, until the exact locality of every 
sacred place within its walls may become a question of 
doubt, the former must for ever remain as a witness to the 
goodness, and power, and glory of a risen Redeemer. 

A little below and on the opposite side of the road from 
the Garden of Gethsemane, in descending Mount Olivet, 
we reach the " Tomb and Chapel of the Virgin." The 
structure is of considerable size and looks ancient. We 
reach its front by a long flight of steps from the road, and 
then, after entering, we descend another long flight of 
steps to the chapel. About half-way down the inner 
flight of steps two recesses are pointed out — one on either 
side — the one is said to be the tomb of Joachim and 
Anne, the father and mother of Mary, and the other that 
of her husband, Joseph. There are altars in both of these 
niches, with the usual surroundings of gauze and tinsel. 

The chapel itself, which is hewn in the rock, is some 
thirty feet or more below the level of the surrounding 
earth, and probably sixty feet square. Numerous lamps 
are suspended from the ceiling — some of which are of 
gold and silver, and very handsome — while pictures and 
damask surround the walls. The tomb of the Virgin 



In mid About Jerusalem. 73 



rises from the floor of the chapel, a little to the right of 
the main entrance. It is probably ten feet square, and is 
said to be cut out of the solid rock. At each side and 
behind the tomb a small portion of the rock is left exposed, 
which pilgrims may kiss ; all the other portions are 
covered with thin marble slabs, and the front is quite 
handsomely ornamented. 

That the body of the Virgin was ever laid in this tomb 
is questionable ; but as no other tomb is pointed out, it is 
as well perhaps to give credit to the belief. According 
to the Church of Rome, it was from this identical spot 
that the assumption of the Virgin took place. 

A little to the east of this is another chapel or grotto, 
in which the Greeks locate the Passion of the garden. 
Here is also an excavation in the rock, though not so 
large or so well finished as the firstr The old monk who 
shows us about this place seems impressed with the sanc- 
tity of the spot, and lights candles at the altar for our 
special benefit. Of course, he expects and receives, buck- 
sheesh for his trouble, though not probably impressed 
with the " soundness" of our faith. 

Passing over the dry bed of the Brook Kedron, and up 
the steep hill which leads to St. Stephen's Gate, we are 
shown the spot, where, it is said, St. Stephen suffered 
martyrdom, and " fell asleep," while calling upon the 
Lord " not to lay this sin to their charge." The spot is 
marked by a large limestone rock on the roadside, through 
which red veins are visible, and, strange to say, there are 
some who believe these veins were caused by the blood of 
the martyr. 

Entering the city by St. Stephen's Gate, we find our- 
selves upon what is known as the Via Doloroso, the 
road by which Christ was led to crucifixion. A little 
within the gate, on the left of the street, Pilate's house is 



74 



The Old World — Palestine. 



pointed out, or, rather, the site on which it stood, as the 
present structure is used for soldiers' barracks. Pilate's 
house, as such, possesses no interest whatever ; but Pi- 
late's house, as the place to which Jesus was led, and in 
which he had his mock trial and final sentence, and from 
which he was finally led to crucifixion, possesses great 
interest. 

A little further on we reach the " Church of Flagella- 
tion." This we enter and examine with some care and 
interest. The record says that from the presence of Pilate 
" the soldiers led him away into the hall called Prse- 
torium," where, after offering him other indignities, they 
" smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon 
him, and, bowing their knees, worshiped him." This 
hall was doubtless near and, possibly, a part of Pilate's 
house ; and as the Church of the Flagellation is situated 
directly opposite Pilate's house, both of which may, at 
one time, have been connected or had an arched passage- 
way over the street from one to the other, we see no 
reason to doubt the identity of its location. 

A little further on we reach a high arch, built over the 
street, called the " Ecce Homo." Above the arch is a 
room, from which a window looks out upon the street. 
Tradition has fixed upon this as the place from which 
Pilate presented Jesus, wearing the crown of thorns and 
purple robe, with the words, " Behold the man !" though 
but a moment before he had said to that same blood- 
thirsty multitude, "Behold, I bring him forth to you, that 
you may know that I find no fault in him." This arch is 
very quaint and old, and looks as though it might have 
stood from the days of Noah. 

On the same street, and not far from the Ecce Homo 
arch, the places are pointed out where Christ fell while 
bearing his own cross ; and a little way from this, at a 



In and About Jerusalem. 75 



bend in the street, the spot is marked where Simon the 
Cyrenian was compelled to take the cross from the 
shoulders of Christ, and bear it himself to the Hill of 
Calvary. 

Next we are shown the spot where Lazarus lay while 
the dogs " licked his sores," and not far from this the 
house of Dives, "the rich man," who, when he lifted up 
his eyes in hell, only asked that Lazarus might be sent to 
dip the tip of his finger in water to cool his tongue, as he 
was in torment. Nothing, perhaps, in or about Jerusa- 
lem proves more strikingly the lengths to which monkish 
superstition has been carried than the fixing of these 
localities, as it is evident from the record that Christ only 
intended what he said as a parable by which to illustrate 
a great principle. 

Next to this, the house of Veronica is pointed out, 
who, according to monkish tradition, handed Jesus a 
handkerchief to wipe the sweat and blood from his face 
as he passed her door, and on the return of which the 
impress of his features was fixed upon it. This hand- 
kerchief, it is pretended, is still kept in St. Peter's Church 
at Rome, and such is its sanctity that it is only exhibited 
on great Church festivals. 

This closes the noted places on the Via Doloroso, but 
there are several others within the walls of the city which 
may be visited ; and as we are disposed to see everything 
which has been, or can be, seen by any one else, of course 
we visit them. 

The supposed site of the Virgin Mary's residence, 
where she lived and where she died, is upon a narrow 
street near the Armenian convent. The present structure 
has nothing about it to attract special attention. 

The Armenian convent chapel — which is said to have 
been the residence of the high-priest Caiaphas — contains 



76 The Old World— Palestine. 



two relics which are held in high repute, viz. : the stone 
which closed the door of the Holy Sepulchre, and the 
stone on which the cock crew when Peter denied his 
Master. Here, also, is shown a small room or closet 
which is called Christ's prison, in which it is said the 
Saviour was confined while awaiting the action of the 
high-priest. Visitors are permitted to enter this little 
room, which is tastefully fitted up with altar, lamps, etc. 
The stone of the sepulchre forms the principal altar of 
the chapel ; it is so covered up, however, that but little 
of it can be seen — only two small kissing-places. The 
altar of St. Peter, where the cock crew, is outside of the 
chapel and at one side of the inner area, and near it are 
the tombs of an Armenian bishop and several priests. 

While within this chapel we notice two very old books, 
written in Coptic, lying on a stool, which we take the 
liberty of examining. At this the old priest in attendance 
becomes very indignant, and splutters around at a fearful 
rate, though he mollifies completely when, on leaving, we 
hand him some bucksheesh. 

The Armenian convent itself is a very large building, 
and capable, it is said, of accommodating over three 
thousand pilgrims. The gardens of the convent on the 
opposite side of the street are quite extensive, and culti- 
vated with much care. Near this is the English hospital 
and dispensary, and the residence of the English phy- 
sician. 



CHAPTER IV. 

PAST AND PRESENT OF THE HOLY CITY. 

SIGHT-SEEING in and about Jerusalem is quite as 
wearisome as in any other part of the Old World. 
If you go on foot, you are constantly annoyed by the bad 
walking and the filthy streets, and in danger of breaking 
your neck or being run over by the crowd ; and if you go on 
horseback, the danger is scarcely less, while the getting 
off and on your horse so frequently is difficult and trouble- 
some. We have horses constantly at our disposal, and 
try both plans from day to day, as inclination suggests. 

Thrice we make the circuit of the walls of the city, 
and examine each gate with special care. The walls are 
high and strong, and in several places they are built upon 
natural rock foundations. They ascend and descend with 
the slopes of the hills and valleys, and the passage around 
them is not without difficulty, because of the roughness, 
and in many places the steepness, of the path. 

Ancient Jerusalem was built upon several hills, the 
names of which must be familiar to every reader : they 
are easily distinguishable, though the natural surface has 
undergone great changes. We learn from Josephus that 
some of these elevations were cut down and the valleys 
between them filled up by the Asmonean kings ; whilst 
the decay of ancient buildings and the accumulation of 

77 



78 The Old World— Palestine. 



rubbish through so many ages have probably done yet 
more to encumber and conceal the original features of 
the site. The present town is full of inequalities ; you 
are ever ascending or descending ; there are no level 
streets ; and houses are built upon mountains of rubbish, 
which are probably twenty, thirty, or fifty feet above the 
original soil. 

On the easterly side of the walls the Valley of Jehosha- 
phat slopes down to a great depth. On the westerly side 
of this valley, near the wall, is the Moslem burying-place, 
in which are a great number of roughly-built tombs. On 
the easterly side is the burial-place of the Jews, and here 
we notice hundreds, if not thousands, of tombs with Hebrew 
inscriptions. Devout Jews from all parts of the world 
come to Jerusalem to end their days, that their bones may 
rest in this, to them, sacred valley. 

Both Jews and Moslems believe that the scene of the 
Last Judgment Day will take place in this valley ; and 
the Moslems point out the identical stone (jutting out 
somewhat from the city walls, and near the Mosque of 
Omar) on which they say their Prophet will sit to judge 
the people of the whole earth. 

But we will return to our description of " Holy Places" 
within and without the city walls. The next place we 
visit is the " Coenaculum," which is situated on the Hill 
of Zion, and is said to contain the tomb of David and the 
" large upper room" in which Christ instituted the Last 
Supper. This room, upon the second story of the build- 
ing, is large and dingy, with columns in the centre and 
arches running therefrom to form the roof, and has noth- 
ing ancient about it, except some of the materials with 
which it is constructed. The columns vary in style and 
age, and the same is true of the stones of the arches 



Past and Present of the Holy City. 79 



and walls. It is evident, at a glance, that the building is 
of Moslem construction, formed of materials gathered 
from ancient structures. That these columns, and some 
of the stones in the arches and walls, once constituted a 
part of the building in which was located the "large 
upper room," may be possible ; and since tradition has 
fixed upon this as the site of the building, and none other 
is pointed out, we are content to believe it. 

The tomb of David is said to be underneath the build- 
ing, to which a stairway leads from this upper room. 
This the Moslems consider too sacred for Christian eyes. 
We make a movement as if to go down the stairway, at 
which the Moslem guards present raise such a hullabaloo 
that we have to desist, nor would the offer of any amount 
of bucksheesh change them. Had a half-dozen other 
Americans been present, each with a revolver in hand, 
we should have liked to force our passage to the tomb, 
and laughed at the guards in their efforts to prevent us. 
That such miserable fallaheen, backed only by a govern- 
ment the weakest and meanest on earth, should forbid the 
entrance of a Christian (only because he is such) to any 
place of biblical interest, is a disgrace to the civilization 
of the age ; and the Christian nations of the earth owe it 
to themselves to correct this state of things, either by di- 
plomacy or the sword, at the earliest possible moment. 
The Turkish government should be offered the alternative 
— either free access for persons of every clime and every 
creed to every place of biblical interest in Palestine, or 
utter extinction as a government ; and if they did not 
speedily accept the first, the second should be applied 
without hesitation or delay. While we would not inter- 
fere with the Moslem's faith, we have no patience with 
his bigoted exclusiveness, especially in matters relating to 

holy places, nor would we suffer it an hour had we the 

7 * 



8o 



The Old Woi'ld — Palestine. 



power to change it — peaceably if we could, forcibly if 
we must. 

The Jews' Wailing-place next demands our attention. 
This is a small street, or court, alongside -a part of the 
original wall of the Temple of Solomon. We examine 
this wall with care, and from the size and character of 
the stones, differing entirely from any other parts of the 
wall, we have no doubt of its being a part of the old wall 
of the temple. 

On Friday of each week the Jews of Jerusalem assem- 
ble here in great numbers to lament over the destruction 
of the temple and to pray for its speedy restoration. The 
stones are worn smooth with their tears and kisses. It is 
the nearest approach to Mount Moriah, upon which the 
temple stood, and where the Mosque of Omar now stands, 
that the Jews are permitted to make. 

We could not be there on a Friday on account of other 
engagements ; but while there, on another day of the 
week, we witnessed the bewailings of some, who, regard- 
less of the day, offer up continual supplication for the 
return of their ancient glory as a people. 

It is a very sad sight, and one that we should not care 
again to witness. To see the representatives of a people 
once so glorious, and once the possessors and rulers of 
this land, now so abject and down-trodden that only by 
permission dare they lift their eyes toward the outer walls 
of their once glorious temple ; to see them weeping and 
wailing over their departed glory, and with agony of soul 
beseeching the God of their fathers to return to them once 
more ; to see them contemned, and buffeted, and spit 
upon, even by the half-civilized Moslem, in their own city 
of David ; to see them crouching along the street, and 
crawling as it were amidst the shadows of their rulers 



Past and Present of the Holy City. • 81 

and oppressors ; and to know that not only in Jerusalem 
and throughout Palestine, but everywhere throughout the 
civilized globe, this people, once the chosen of God, are 
now wanderers and sojourners on the earth, without a 
distinct nationality and without a Redeemer, — oh ! who 
can but pity and sympathize with them in their hard 
affliction ? 

"Were I asked," says one writer, "what was the object 
of the greatest interest that I had seen, and the spectacle 
that made the deepest impression upon me, during my 
sojourn in other lands, I would say, that it was a Jew 
mourning over the stones of Jerusalem." 

" Oh ! weep for those. that wept by Babel's stream, 
Whose shrines are desolate, whose land a dream ; 
Weep for the harp of Judah's broken shell ; 
Mourn — where their God hath dwelt, the godless dwell !" 

But God is merciful as well as just, and in due time he 
will bring even this people within the pale of Christianity. 
The English mission to the Jews which is located at Jeru- 
salem is doing a good work, and converts are constantly 
being added ; and a large hospital has recently been 
erected, through the munificence of a gentleman of New 
Orleans, for their special accommodation. 

From the Jews' Wailing-place we go to another por- 
tion of the old wall, or rather to a portion of an old arch 
connected with the wall, now called " Robinson's Arch," 
so named in honor of the man who first noted and de- 
scribed it in 1842. The stones which remain of this arch 
aie immense. We measure two, and find one to be 
twenty and a half feet long by three and a half feet 
in thickness, and another twenty-four feet in length by 
five and a half feet in thickness. Their breadth, of 
course, we could not measure. There are others of equal 



82 



The Old World — Palestine. 



size, but these are the only ones convenient for measure- 
ment. 

In the works of Josephus, there is a great bridge de- 
scribed as connecting the palace of Solomon, on Mount 
Zion, with the temple on Mount Moriah, and these stones 
are, no doubt, a part of the archway of this bridge. The 
size, situation, and general appearance of the stones 
render this conclusion inevitable. 

Continuing our course toward the Zion gate, we soon 
reach the long row of low stone huts, near the gate, 
specially assigned as the residence of lepers. These poor 
creatures are not permitted to live in any other part of 
the city, and can scarcely be said to " live" here. We 
had seen them before as beggars by the roadside, but did 
riot realize their abject, utter poverty until seeing the 
hovels in which they are compelled to live. These lepers 
intermarry only with each other, and as the disease is 
hereditary and must increase by each subsequent trans- 
mission, the wonder is that they have not long since all 
died out. 

While looking at these voiceless, toothless creatures, 
with outstretched hands, from which a part, and, in some 
cases, all the fingers have dropped oft', we cannot but 
wonder which, if any of them, are the legitimate de- 
scendants of the ten who, when they saw Jesus, lifted up 
their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us," 
and to whom the Saviour replied, " Go show yourselves 
unto the priests. And it came to pass that as they went 
they were cleansed." 

The pools and fountains of Jerusalem which we visit 
at different times, and some of them again and again, 
next demand description at our hands. 

Passing out of St Stephen's gate, on our right hand, 



Past and Pr -e sent of the Holy City. 83 



near but within the gate, are the remains of the pool of 
Bethesda. In the days of our Saviour this pool was 
probably covered with a beautiful structure, as St. John 
describes it as having " five porches," in which " lay a 
multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, wait- 
ing for the moving of the water." 

Now it has no covering, and its waters are no longer 
sought by the sick or well. It is about three hundred and 
fifty feet in length, one hundred and fifty feet in width, 
and contains but little water, and even this little is not 
used for any purpose. 

Here it was that Jesus saw and had pity on the man 
who had had an infirmity thirty-and-eight years, and to 
whom he said, " Rise, take up thy bed and walk !" 

Farther down the side of the valley is the " Fountain 
of the Virgin." We reach the fountain by descending a long 
flight of steps running under the hill. Its name is derived 
from a tradition that when the Virgin Mary was accused 
of adultery, she established her innocence by drinking of 
the waters of this fountain, there being a tradition then, 
as now, that any one guilty of adultery who drank of this 
fountain would immediately die. This fountain is con- 
nected by a subterranean passage with the Pool of Siloam, 
some thousand feet or more down the valley. Of its 
great antiquity there can be no doubt. Its waters are 
used by such of the natives as live near it, nor do they 
seem to have any fears of drinking it, whether adulterers 
or otherwise. 

" The Fountain of the Virgin," says Schubert, " is a 
deep excavation in the solid rock, Into which one descends 
by two successive flights of steps. The water flows hence 
by a subterraneous passage under the hill Ophel to the 
Pool of Siloam ; but whence does the pool itself derive 
its supply? The oft-repeated quotation, 



84 



The Old World — Palestine. 



" Siloa's brook that flowed 
Fast by the Oracle of God," 

is hardly consistent with the idea that the head of the 
stream should be so remote from the temple as is this 
fountain ; but there is a tradition among the inhabitants of 
the neighborhood that the latter is connected by an arti- 
ficial channel with a well placed within the enclosure of 
the Mosque of Omar. Mr. Wilde even gives the dimen- 
sions of the passage, though it does not appear he himself 
explored it. He rests his proof of its existence on a 
story current in Jerusalem that the rebellion of that city 
against Ibrahim Pasha was begun by the Arabs of SiLoam, 
who made their way into the interior by creeping through 
this subterraneous conduit. The fact may have been so, 
and less likely tales figure unquestioned in grave histories ; 
but we have heard another solution of the mystery. The 
governor of Jerusalem at the time the rebellion broke out 
was the son of the Sheikh of Siloam ; he probably left 
one of the gates open to his father's tribe, and then set 
the story afloat to cover his own treason." 

The Pool of Siloam, as before stated, is some thousand 
feet or more farther down the Valley of Jehoshaphat. It 
was once probably covered with a beautiful building, as 
several columns are still lying about it. It is, at present, 
entirely open and only walled up with rough stone. It 
is about fifty feet long by twenty in width, and has a large 
supply of water. Its waters are cool and palatable. On 
one of our visits we dismount and bathe our eyes and 
forehead in its soft waters, and, though not blind, we feel 
refreshed from its effects. 

Here it was that Jesus ordered the blind man to bathe 
his eyes, after he had applied the clay and spittle unto 
them ; and " he went his way and washed and came 
seeing." 



Past and Present of the Holy City. 85 



Dr. Robinson, in describing the lower Pool of Siloam, 
says : " The water has a peculiar taste, sweetish and 
very slightly brackish, but not disagreeable. A very re- 
markable circumstance is related of this pool and foun- 
tain : It is reported that the water in them is subject to a 
daily tide ; and by some writers it is stated to ebb and 
flow under lunar influence. A woman of Siloam, who 
was accustomed to frequent the place every day, informed 
us that the flowing of the water occurs at irregular inter- 
vals, sometimes two or three times a day, and sometimes 
in summer once in two or three days. She said she had 
seen the fountain dry, and men and flocks, dependent on 
it, gathered round and suffering from thirst, when all at 
once the water would begin to boil up from under the 
steps, and (as she said) from the bottom in the interior 
part,' and flow off in a copious stream. 

" In order to account for this irregularity, the common 
people say that a great dragon lies within the fountain ; 
when he is awake he stops the water — when he sleeps it 
flows. So much for Arab philosophy ; that of the West 
has been exhausted upon ingenious arguments to account 
for this extraordinary phenomenon, the wonder and the 
admiration of the pilgrim and the traveler. After all, 
the simple explanation offered by Mr. Wilde is very pro- 
bably the true one : The stream or outlet from the lower 
pool is conducted by artificial channels through the 
gardens and parterres that lie immediately beneath it in 
the valley ; and it is the chief source of their fertility. 
Now, as there is little water in the pool during the dry 
season, the Arabs dam up the several streams in order to 
collect a sufficient quantity in small ponds adjoining each 
garden ; and this they must all do at the same time, or 
there would be an unfair division of the fertilizing fluid. 
These dams are generally made in the evening, and the 



86 



The Old World — Palestine. 



water is drawn off in the morning or sometimes two or 
three times a day ; and thus the opening and closing of 
the dams produce the appearance of an ebb and flow in 
the fountains." 

That portion of the valley of Jehoshaphat in which the 
Pool of Siloam is situated is sometimes called the Valley 
of Siloam, and on the easterly side of th^ valley is a 
small, miserably built, and no less miserably tenanted, vil- 
lage, which is also called Siloam. This village is located 
on the side of a steep hill, and many of its dwellings are 
grottoes or catacombs, which were formerly occupied as 
burial-places. While passing this village and clambering 
around and among its ancient tombs, we observe a good 
many savage scowls, both from men and women, but these 
persons make no attempt to molest us, and we pay no 
heed to their frowns. All travelers, however, do not get 
through this village so comfortably ; and the experience 
which one gives is so strikingly descriptive and amusing 
that we cannot refrain from quoting it. 

He says : " Proceeding onward through the valley, we 
found the whole face of the precipitous rock, upon its 
eastern side, excavated into one vast and almost con- 
tinuous catacomb, consisting of chambers of various 
sizes. Some of them were simple square apartments, 
formed to contain a single corpse, and closed by a stone 
door fitted into a groove round the entrance so accurate 
that a seal might have been applied at the joining to 
secure the sepulchre ; and the first of them I visited at 
once explained to me the form of the tomb of the Ari- 
mathean nobleman. The sepulchral grots are continued 
all down the valley of Siloam, having galleries,' stairs, 
and small terraces cut out of the rock, leading from one 
to the other. They are all now inhabited, and they, with 
some mud-built huts at the bottom of the valley, consti- 



\ 



Past and Present of the Holy City. 87 



tute the village of Siloam, which contains upward of 
fifteen hundred Arabs — a vicious, quarrelsome, and dis- 
honest set of people, and noted for such propensities for 
centuries past. On my first visit to this place, happening 
to poke my head into one of the cryptae, I was startled 
not a little by the wild, unearthly scream of an old Arab 
crone who inhabited the interior. The noise she made 
became the signal for a general outcry ; the dwellers in 
the different caves popped their heads out from their 
holes like so many beavers reconnoitering an enemy ; the 
children ran shouting in all directions ; curses fell fast 
and heavy on the Giaour and Nazarene ; and had I got 
into the harem of the pasha the alarm could not have 
been greater than that which I excited among the whole 
troglodyte population of this cemetery of the living. I 
made a hasty retreat amidst the general uproar, and took 
good care never to venture again so far upon a tomb- 
hunting expedition into Siloam." 

There is within the city walls a large body of water, 
which our guide points out to us as the " Pool of Heze- 
kiah ;" but from its location, muddy appearance, and the 
fact of its being entirely surrounded by houses, we should 
rather think it was prepared to serve the purpose of a 
large reservoir for the rain-water which falls from the 
surrounding houses. It may, however, be the remains 
of the pool which King Hezekiah constructed when, as 
we are told, he brought water into the city by stopping 
the upper water-course of Gihon. 

There are still two other pools outside of the walls and 
up the valley of Gihon, known as the Upper and Lower 
Pool of Gihon. The former is of considerable size, 
walled up with rough stones, and doubtless very ancient ; 
the latter, lower down the valley, is interesting as mark- 
ing the place where " it came to pass in an eventide that 
8 



88 



The Old World — Palestine. 



David arose from off his bed and walked upon the roof 
of the king's house ; and from the roof he saw a woman 
washing herself ; and the woman was very beautiful to 
look upon." This woman was Bathsheba, the wife of 
Uriah the Hittite, and she through the perfidiousness of 
David, subsequently became his wife, and the mother of 
Solomon. At the time David first saw her she was 
bathing in this Lower Pool of Gihon. Not far from this 
is the Potter's Field, where Judas went and hanged 
himself. 

Notwithstanding the fountains and pools mentioned, 
Jerusalem is now, and doubtless always has been, very 
poorly supplied with water. The inhabitants within the 
walls depend mainly upon their cisterns of rain-water, 
caught during the rainy season. Skillful engineering and 
a comparatively small outlay would bring the sweet and 
abundant waters of the Pools of Solomon into every 
dwelling of the city, but it is not at all probable that this 
will ever be done while Jerusalem remains under its pres- 
ent rulers. 

It is a bright and beautiful morning as we mount our 
horses to ride to the Tombs of the Kings, the Tombs of 
the Judges, and the Tombs of the Prophets. 

We have examined the beautiful tomb of Absalom, situ- 
ated far down in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and marked 
the heap of small stones around its base, one of which has 
been thrown by every passing Jew and Moslem, as show- 
ing their contempt of a son who would rebel against his 
father ; we have seen the tombs of Jehoshaphat and St. 
James immediately beside that of Absalom ; the open 
tomb of Zacharias in the hillside, northward of the city 
wall ; and the scores of other open nameless tombs, hewn 
in the rocks around and about Jerusalem ; and now we 



Past and Present of the Holy City. 89 

propose to visit the more extensive ones of the Kings, 
the Judges, and the Prophets. 

A ride of about an hour, over a rough and stony path, 
brings us to the Tombs of the Kings. Following a path 
down the side of a rock, and entering a doorway cut 
through the rock, we find ourselves in an open area of 
probably fifty feet square. From one side of this is the 
entrance to the tombs, and, lighting our candles, we ex- 
plore them thoroughly. They consist of several small 
chambers, hewn in the rock, from which other and still 
smaller chambers run off at different points. The walls 
are rough, without sculpture or finish of any kind ; and 
in comparison to the tombs we saw in Egypt, these are 
hardly worth looking at. 

Though this is known as the Tomb or Tombs of the 
Kings, it is now generally conceded that the bones of no 
king or kings ever rested within its walls ; but that it 
was built for Helena, the widow of Monobazus, king of 
Adiabena, who died in Jerusalem in the reign of Clau- 
dius Caesar. 

We next ride to the Tombs of the Judges, some dis- 
tance to the westward. This is more extensive and upon 
a better plan than the other, having rows of niches for 
bodies in the sides of the larger rooms. The fact that 
there are about seventy of these niches has induced the 
belief that it was built for the seventy Judges of the San- 
hedrim, though beyond this there is no proof whatever 
that it was ever used for such a purpose. There is no 
sculpture or inscription of any kind within the tomb, 
and the sculpture over the outside entrance is merely 
fanciful. 

Next we direct our course to the Tombs of the Pro- 
phets, to reach which we have a long and tedious ride 
over stony fields, down the steeo slopes of the Valley of 



90 The Old World — Palestine. 



Jehoshaphat, along the valley, and up the steep and stony 
path nearly to the top of the Mount of Olives. We 
find the opening of the tomb on the side of a grassy 
mound, in an unfenced field, and, but for our guide, we 
certainly would never have found it at all. 

Crawling through a small hole, we find ourselves in a 
good-sized chamber, to which light and air are admitted 
from a hole above. From this chamber a semi-circular 
passage-way runs off for a long distance, and other passage- 
ways cross and recross this at different points. 'We can 
easily understand how one might get confused and lost in 
traversing these irregular passage-ways, and yet the tomb 
is not so extensive but that a loud call can be heard in 
any part of it. The chambers are irregular and small ; 
no sculpture or inscription of any kind marks its walls ; 
everything about the tomb is rude and unfinished ; and, 
but for its curious construction and size, it would hardly 
be worth a visit — especially to persons who had pre- 
viously seen the extensive and well-finished tombs of 
Upper Egypt. 

Though these are called the Tombs of the Prophets, 
there is no evidence whatever to show that a single pro- 
phet was ever buried within them ; and in the absence 
of any such proof, neither of the tombs mentioned possess 
even a historical, much less a biblical, interest. 

We have yet to describe the Mosque of Omar, which 
of itself has no interest to the Christian reader ; but, 
standing as it does upon the site, and indeed upon part 
of the very foundations, of Solomon's Temple, it possesses 
much interest. Formerly, this was forbidden ground to 
Christians, but now it is open to any one who is willing 
to pay a liberal bucksheesh — about one dollar each — to 
those who have it in charge. We visit it on our fourth 
day in Jerusalem, and note carefully every part and 



Past and Present of the Holy City. 91 



parcel of the grounds and buildings ; but only in such 
parts as were probably connected with the temple, do 
we feel any sort of interest. 

This is undoubtedly the Mount Moriah on which the 
temple stood ; and the. identical " threshing-floor" for 
which David gave the " fifty shekels of silver." Here 
stood the wonderful temple built by King Solomon to the 
glory of the Great Jehovah, and just here was the "veil 
of the temple rent" when Jesus gave up the ghost ! The 
enclosure, surrounded by the city walls on the outside 
and a corresponding wall within, is said to be about one 
thousand five hundred feet in length by one thousand in 
breadth. Near the centre stands the Mosque of Omar, 
and southward from this is the Mosque of El Aksa. 
Both are fitted up in the usual Moslem style, with marble 
floors, stained-glass windows, and Arabic gewgaws. In 
the centre of the first is a very large natural rock, called 
by the Moslems Es Sukhrah, in which they show the 
footprint of Mohammed as he mounted to heaven. By 
many, this rock is believed to have been in the old temple, 
and to have constituted what was known as the "Holy of 
Holies." The fact that a subterranean passage leads from 
underneath this rock to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, would 
seem to indicate that it was the rock, or altar, on which 
the sacrifices were made, and that this passage-way was 
intended to carry off the blood and offal. 

In the Mosque of El Aksa are several old columns, 
which were probably parts of the temple. Two of these 
stand pretty close together, and the Moslems say that 
only those who can pass between these columns ever 
reach heaven. We have considerable sport in trying the 
experiment, and find that every one of our company can 
squeeze through, except the old sheikh (our conductor), 

who, being very corpulent, will not try it. 

8 * 



9 2 



The Old World — Palestine. 



But the part which interests us most is the immense 
subterranean archways, underneath the surface of the 
ground not now built upon. We have some difficulty in 
getting down to these through a hole near the outer wall, 
but, once here, the view is grand and imposing — arch 
after arch, and passage-way after passage-way can be seen 
for a great distance. That these were a part of the old 
temple we have no doubt whatever. The Golden Gate 
is also shown, but its identity is very questionable. 

Thus we finish our description of Jerusalem and its 
surroundings, and to-morrow we shall start for the Jordan 
and Dead Sea. 



CHAPTER V. 



OFF FOR THE JORDAX AXD DEAD SEA. 

" T S everything ready for a start. Mohammed?" 

X Ready, sir.*' 
Have you seen that the canteen and tents are properly 
packed and well secured on the baggage mules, and are 
they, too, ready to start?" 

"Everything is ready, sir." 

" Then lead off for the Jordan by the way of Bethany 
and Jericho." 

Mohammed is a faithful servant and a passably good 
dragoman when he is in his "right mind f but he will 
drink to excess when he gets in " coffee-shops" and among 
his fellow-dragomen, and onlv vesterdav we were obliged 
to give him a severe horse-whipping, in front of our own 
tent, and in the presence of other dragomen and scores 
of lookers-on. because, being drunk, he was insolent and 
refused to obey us. 

It was something new in Syria to see a H&wajji flog 
his own dragoman, and the lookers-on seemed astounded 
and paralvzed at the sight, but it taught him and them a 
lesson which they will not soon forget, viz. : that an 
American traveler will not take insolence nor suffer dis- 
obedience, even from a dragoman, with all his fine dress 

93 



94 



The Old World — Palestine. 



and lordly pretensions. Since then he has been a much 
wiser and a much better man. 

But others of our company have gone on, and our 
Bedouin sheikh, on his beautiful Arab mare, is eager to be 
off, so now we must away to the Jordan. 

Passing around the northern wall of the city, by the 
Damascus gate, deep down in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, 
up a rugged path, we find ourselves upon the summit 
of Mount Olivet, and our eyes are again wandering over 
the mysterious city, and the hills and the valleys around 
and about it. We say mysterious, for on all this wide 
earth there is not a city with such a strange and eventful 
history, nor one which, having been so nearly exalted to 
heaven, is now so nearly cast down to hell. 

Passing through the narrow, dirty streets of the village 
on the top of Olivet, we soon emerge on the other side, 
and from this point we have another very distinct view of 
the Dead Sea. It seems but a little way off, only over the 
next hill-top, and no one would hesitate to say (without 
a knowledge of the facts in the case) that he could reach 
it in a half hour's ride, and yet it will take some seven or 
eight hours of hard riding before it can be reached. So 
rarefied is the air of this country that distances are very 
deceptive, and woe be to him who attempts to measure his 
footsteps with his eye ! 

Another half hour's ride over a descending and very 
stony path brings us to the village of Bethany, and close 
along the roadside we find the tomb of Lazarus. 

The village itself is now miserable and dirty, like all 
the Arab villages of Palestine ; but its beautiful situation 
on the easterly slope of Mount Olivet, and its surround- 
ings of olive, pomegranate, fig, and almond trees, show 
that it may at one time have been a most delightful place 
of residence and rest. 



Off for the Jordan and Dead Sea. 



95 



To reach the tomb of Lazarus we enter a narrow door- 
way, formed by the piling up of rude stones, and descend 
twenty-six steps, which brings us to a chamber about 
eleven feet by nine in size, and about twenty feet below 
the level of the doorstep. This is the reputed tomb of 
Lazarus. Through a small doorway at the side of this 
chamber we descend another short flight of steps, and 
reach another chamber about the same size as the first. 
This is said to be the tomb of Mary and Martha, the 
sisters of Lazarus. 

Both these chambers are hewn from the rock, as is 
also a part of the steps leading thereto, but all is rough, 
rugged, and dismal. The Moslem villagers who have 
charge of the tomb only take such care of it as the buck- 
sheesh of travelers induces them to do. How it came to 
pass that the Empress Helena did not have a church 
erected over this tomb, as she did over so many other 
places of less biblical interest, is a wonder to us. 

It was here at Bethany that Mary " anointed the Lord 
with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair ;" here it 
was that Jesus often repaired to rest for a while amid the 
companionship of friends, and to commune with those 
who loved him for his very work's sake ; here it was that 
he cursed the fruitless fig tree and it withered at his word ; 
here it was that "Jesus wept," and here it was that he 
spoke with a " loud voice," which was heard even unto 
the spirit land, and said, " Lazarus, come forth." " And 
he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with 
grave-clothes," when Jesus added, " Loose him, and let 
him go." 

Did time permit, we could linger longhand thoughtfully 
in this sacred place, every stone of which has been made 
holy by the Saviour's presence ; but we must again re- 
mount and away for Jericho and the Jordan. 



9 6 



The Old World — Palestine. 



The road from Bethany to Jericho is terrible, horrible, 
indescribable. Down, down, down paths of rock where 
you would hardly believe a gazelle could go without 
breaking its neck, and up paths scarcely less difficult. 
There is much more going down than up, however, from 
Jerusalem to Jordan, as the latter lies about four thousand 
feet below the former. 

These bleak mountains and barren valleys constitute 
the "wilderness" in which Jesus wandered for forty days 
and forty nights ; and just before reaching Jericho our 
guide points out an exceedingly high mountain, which 
has the reputation of being the place from which the 
devil showed Jesus all the " kingdoms of the world and 
the glory of them," all of which he offered the Saviour 
if he would but fall down and worship him. 

Time and patience, it is said, accomplish all things, 
and so it proves in this case, for ere the sun has set we 
see from the mountain side our tents pitched on the plain 
of the Jordan near Jericho, and thither we hasten, though 
not without first making a detour of a mile to visit the 
" Fountain of Elisha," the waters of which, it is said, 
Elisha " healed" by changing its bitter to sweet. This is 
indeed a noble spring, bursting out from the base of the 
mountain in great quantity, and we can attest to the 
sweetness of its waters now from frequent and copious 
draughts. 

Ancient Jericho, it is thought, stood near this spring, 
and was a city of much renown in the days of our 
Saviour. The present Jericho, called by the natives El 
Riha, is one of the most miserable and filthy of Arab 
villages, and has nothing about it to interest a traveler. 

Our tents are pitched near the village burial-place, and 
just as we arrive the natives are engaged in committing 
one of their number to his mother dust. We dismount 



Off for the Jordan and Dead Sea. 97 

and draw near to witness the ceremonies of an Arab 
funeral. Two men are digging the grave, and probably 
twenty others are standing around giving directions, some- 
times in a loud and almost querulous voice ; a little way 
off the corpse lies on the ground wrapped up in a white 
muslin shroud, tied at the head and feet ; and not far from 
this sit probably fifty women on the ground, some be- 
moaning in a loud voice, while others seem to be com- 
forting them. Occasionally ten or a dozen of the younger 
women form a ring and dance around probably a sister 
of the deceased, uttering meanwhile a dolorous song. 

While they are digging the grave we notice no less 
than six human skulls, with a corresponding number of 
other bones of the body, thrown out with the dirt at 
the side of the grave. 

When all is ready, several men pick up the dead body 
and carry it to the grave, in which they lay it upon its 
side, with the face turned toward Mecca. Stones are then 
fitted around and above the body, and these are covered 
over with mortar and dirt ; then the bones which are taken 
out are thrown in, and finally every man present, with his 
hand or foot, scrapes in dirt until the hole is filled up. 
Stones are set at the head and foot, upon which one of 
the men pours a little powder and rubs it with spittle 
until a black mark is left upon each. The significance 
of this we do not understand, though it doubtless means 
something. The men keep up a sort of chant while all 
this is being done, and, in conclusion, all the men ap- 
proach and salute two of the men present, probably 
brothers of the deceased, by pressing their own foreheads 
against those of the brothers, twice in succession. The 
women, during the. burial, continue seated on the ground 
some distance off, and at no time do they approach the 
grave. One old woman, probably the mother of the 



9« 



The Old World — Palestine. 



deceased, when the men are gone away, crawls upon her 
hands and knees to the foot of the grave, and with up- 
lifted hands and streaming eyes bemoans the loss of her 
darling boy. This is the saddest sight of the whole pro- 
ceeding, and in witnessing it our own eyes are made to 
weep. Miserably poor and degraded as she is, she still 
loves her darling boy, and bemoans his loss with all of a 
mother's love. 

Standing near the grave while the grave-diggers are 
doing their work, some ask us for bucksheesh and others 
for tobacco. We give of both — of the latter all we have 
in our pouch, and think nothing more of it ; but when 
we get back to our tents and feel in our side coat-pocket 
for our rubber tobacco-pouch and handkerchief, we find 
them both missing. Not content with what we had given 
them, these rascals had stolen both our tobacco-pouch 
and handkerchief while we were standing among them 
at the grave-side — thus illustrating in our own case what 
Christ had said of the man who went down to Jericho 
and fell among thieves. Our conclusions are that the 
Jerichoians of to-day are no better than they were in the 
days of our Saviour ; and perhaps they are even worse, 
since it is not reported of that man that he was attending 
a funeral at the time he was robbed. 

In the Old Testament Scriptures, Jericho is frequently 
mentioned as one of the cities with which the ancient 
Israelites had much to do. It was by Jericho that 
Joshua saw and communed with the " Captain of the 
hosts of the Lord ;" it was the walls of this city which 
fell at the blowing of the trumpets of rams' horns ; and 
it was here, too, that the blind Bartimeus sat by the way- 
side begging, and when hearing that Jesus of Nazareth 
passeth by, he cried out, "Jesus, thou son of David, have 



Off for the Jordan and Dead Sea. 99 

mercy on me !" and received the answer, " Go thy way ; 
thy faith hath made thee whole." 

Next morning, bright and early, we start for the Jordan, 
and about one hour's ride over the level plain brings us 
to the banks of that sacred stream, at the point where its 
waters were thrice divided — once to permit the children 
of Israel to pass over to the promised land, once at the 
command of Elijah, and again at the command of Elisha ; 
and at the point, too, where Jesus was baptized of John, 
when " there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou 
art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." 

Shortly after reaching its banks, Lily, Lu, and myself 
all bathe in its waters, and feel greatly refreshed there- 
from. 

The width of the Jordan at this point, and at this time, 
March 28, is not over one hundred feet, though during 
the rainy season, when its waters are swollen, it is much 
wider. Its waters are very muddy — so much so that 
where it enters the Dead Sea, a few miles below, the 
color of its water can be distinctly traced for a long dis- 
tance before its final intermixture with the deep, dark, 
beautiful blue waters of the sea. Its length is said to be 
about two hundred miles, and its fall, within a distance 
of eighty miles, exceeds one thousand three hundred feet. 
The rapidity of the fall and the clayey soil through Which 
it passes account for its turbid, yellow appearance. Aside 
from its biblical associations, it is not a stream that would 
excite any interest in any country. 

It is not our good fortune to have so timed our visit as 
to be present at the great baptismal ceremony which 
takes place every Easter ; we must, therefore, be con- 
tent, for the reader's sake, to borrow from others a de- 
scription of this strange spectacle. Fancy, then, a vast 

encampment thronged with thousands of pilgrims of all 
9 



ioo The Old World — Palestine. 



ages and sexes, a bewildering medley of strange tongues 
and costumes. The order having been given to march 
from the encampment near Jericho two hours before sun- 
rise, soon after three o'clock the camp is all bustle and 
confusion, and the beacons of bitumen are seen slowly 
moving toward the river. 

The river forms an angle at the bathing-place, and has 
its bank covered with long coarse grass, tall reeds, wil- 
lows, oleanders, tamarisks, and low brushwood. The 
width at this point may be about thirty-five yards, and 
when the stream is somewhat swollen, as is usual about 
Easter, it runs with the precipitous fury of a rapid. The 
bank in some places is steep, shelving off abruptly to 
deep water. The first who prepares himself is a Rus- 
sian, with hair of enormous length, who, having stripped 
and enveloped himself in a long new shirt, drops care- 
fully in ; and, holding on to the grass, dips and shakes 
himself, and dips again, much after the manner of a duck 
that presages wet weather. 

The baptismal robe worn on this occasion is preserved 
by each pilgrim to be used as his winding-sheet ; and 
they believe that if they are cast into hell, it will not catch 
fire. 

The sun, says another eye-witness, has risen over the 
tops of Abarim, and the river bank presents one of the 
most unprejudiced scenes which it has ever been my lot 
to witness. The main body of the pilgrims have arrived, 
and a general undressing commences. There are men of 
all sizes and climes, from the tottering octogenarian to the 
crawling bambino, who, being immersed with its head back 
and its mouth open, fills and bubbles like a bottle : ladies 
of all ages and angles, colors and calibres, from the Cai- 
reen Copt to the fair-skinned Russian. Of the men, some 
creep cautiously in, and reflect a moment before they go 



Off for the Jordan and Dead Sea. 101 



under ; others leap, spinning in like wheels, and, return- 
ing to the land, repeat again and again the same perform- 
ance. Of the lovelier creatures, some bounce dauntless 
in, and, holding fast between two men, are well ducked, 
and come smiling out again ; others go in delicately, and, 
standing ankle-deep in mud upon the brink, are baptized 
with basins full of the sacred stream. Nor is it enough 
that their bodies are consecrated — all their clothes are 
plunged, and they drink the unconscious element, not each 
out of his or her own hands, but out of those of a fellow- 
pilgrim, the two palms being joined together to form a 
a cavity for the liquid ; while bottles of every form and 
material are filled for distant markets. 

Close to the scene of the hallowing rite is a tamarisk 
tree, which, bending over the water and brushing the 
surface with its trunk, heads back the current where it is 
rushing with the greatest velocity. Many of the votaries, 
being carried with violence against it, come up on the 
other side ; and, if they have sufficient strength to hold 
on by the branches, they escape a similar encounter from 
another tree that overhangs the stream five yards lower 
down. We observe one man likely to be carried in the 
above direction, but, retaining his presence of mind, he 
strikes into the mid-stream, and, swimming down like an 
arrow, lands upon a shelving gravelly bank, a quarter of 
a mile below. Soon, after a Russian, either unable to 
swim or unprepared to resist the torrent, is dashed against 
the tree, and, rising on the other side, attempts to hold 
fast by the branches, but is carried against the second, 
and, passing under it, appears no more, every one sup- 
posing that he is lost. He is afterward thrown on shore 
below, exhausted, but not dead. Immediately after him 
another follows in the same direction, and is drowned. 
This man has a very dark complexion, and it is at first 



102 ' The Old World — Palestine. 



asserted that he came from the interior of the desert, 
where, never having seen a river, he had no idea of the 
power of water. But the pilgrims afterward mustering, 
and finding none of their party missing, conclude that he 
must have been a Mohammedan who has met his just re- 
ward for defiling their ceremony. 

The time may come when the body of that same exe- 
crated Paynim, thrown up from its asphaltine bed beneath 
the waters of the Dead Sea, shall be regarded with pious 
reverence, and fragments of it sought as relics by a race 
of pilgrims yet unborn. The conjecture is not unwar- 
ranted by precedent. About thirty years ago a human 
body, or what had the form of one, was discovered float- 
ing not far from the shore of the Dead Sea, and on taking 
it out it was found-to be encrusted all over with bitumen 
and salt, in consequence no doubt of its having lain a 
long while in the lake. It happened to be the time of 
Easter, and the pilgrims hearing of it broke the body into 
innumerable pieces with infinite eagerness, believing it to 
be one of the ancient inhabitants of Sodom, who had 
risen from the bottom. It was probably the body of some 
unfortunate Arab who had fallen in. 

The baptismal ceremony being concluded, the pilgrims 
return to Jerusalem. But all do not return. In this 
barbarous country multitudes cannot undertake a journey 
even of eight hours without leaving part of their number 
behind. Remembering that the number that came was 
nearly three thousand, the list of accidents is not propor- 
tionally great. But not one life need have been lost if 
the pilgrims had been less impatient and less inhuman. 

On our way from Jerusalem to the Jordan we meet 
quite a number of Greek and Russian pilgrims returning 
from the latter place, many of whom have sprigs of 
thorn bush in their hands, such as are supposed to have 



Off for the Jordan and Dead Sea. 103 

been used in making the crown of thorns with which the 
Saviour's brow was encircled. Some of them are bare- 
foot and miserably clad, while all seem weary and foot- 
sore. We salute each of them respectfully as we pass 
them by ; for, though we pity their ignorance and fanati- 
cism, we cannot but respect the Christian zeal which 
causes them to leave their homes, thousands of miles 
away, to make what they regard as a sacred pilgrimage 
to the tomb of the Saviour and to the river in which he 
submitted himself for baptism at the hands of John. 

Who can stand on the banks of this sacred stream and 
read the simple, yet touchingly beautiful, account given 
by St. Matthew of the baptism of Jesus, without feeling 
that it is indeed a spot which every Christian eye may 
well delight to look upon ? 

The record reads: ''Then cometh Jesus from Galilee 
to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John 
forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, 
and comest thou to me ? And Jesus answering said unto 
him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to 
fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And 
Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out 
of the water ; and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, 
and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, 
and lighting upon him ; and, lo, a voice from heaven 
saying. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well 
pleased." 

Think you not, kind reader, that many a weary pilgrim 
who, after weeks of travel from his home on the steppes 
of Russia, the plains of the Danube, or the sunny vales 
of Italy, finally reaches this spot and bathes himself in 
the sacred river, feels, in a like but circumscribed sense 
the Holy Spirit descending on his sin-sick soul, and from 
thenceforth, and ever after, thanks the great God for the 



104 The Old World — Palestine. 



privilege of having seen and bathed in the waters of the 
Jordan ? 

The tribe of Bedouins who occupy the eastern bank of 
the Jordan are of rather a lawless character, and in 
Jerusalem it is not thought safe for strangers to visit the 
Jordan and Dead Sea without having with them one or 
more sheikhs and a posse of Arabs who belong to the rest- 
less tribes beyond the Jordan, or are on friendly terms 
with them. Omitting this precaution, some travelers 
have been robbed and grossly maltreated while visiting 
the Jordan and Dead Sea, and, even with this precaution, 
the traveler is not always free from danger. 

Our own escort from Jerusalem consists of a sheikh, 
his son, and some half dozen Arabs on foot, each carry- 
ing a matchlock, which looks as if made in the year One ; 
and seems far more likely, if fired off, to kill the holder 
than an enemy. The sheikh and his son also carry scime- 
tars, of Turkish construction, and both are mounted on 
splendid Arab mares. The sheikh's son is specially atten- 
tive to Lily, riding most of the time close by her side, 
and constantly gathering flowers for her by the way- 
side. She has but to smile and point toward a flower to 
secure it in an instant, for the young sheikh does not have 
to dismount to pick a flower. Such is his agility that, 
riding along beside it, he throws his body sideways, and 
plucks the flower without ever stopping his horse. The 
attentions of the young sheikh toward Lily become so 
marked and demonstrative that we begin to fear he may 
want to carry her off to the desert, to be the light of 
his own home, as she long has been of ours ; but so 
soon as we strike upon the level plain of the Jordan our 
fears all vanish away, for the love of the Bedouin for his 
bonny gray mare supersedes that of his love for woman, 
and desiring to show both Lily and ourselves that he has 



Off for the Jordan and Dead Sea. 105 

a steed of which he may well be proud, he dashes away 
at a fearful rate, bidding Mohammed, our dragoman, to 
follow. Away they both go like shafts from a bow, but 
Mohammed's horse falls so far behind the Bedouin's that 
the latter laughs the former to scorn, and wheels around 
and around him, like a hawk about to pounce down upon 
its prey. 

The horsemanship of the Arab, and the love he bears 
toward his steed, are two characteristics of the Bedouin 
which fail not to attract the eye of every one who travels 
among them ; and should you believe a hundredth part of 
what they tell you, you would conclude that many of the 
horses are more intelligent than their masters, and have 
the reasoning faculty quite as thoroughly developed. Thus 
they will tell you that a troop of Druses on horseback 
attacked a party of Bedouins in Hauran in the summer 
of 18 15, and drove them into their encampment, where 
they were in turn assailed by a superior force, and all 
killed except one man, who fled. He was pursued by 
several of the best-mounted Bedouins ; but his mare, 
though fatigued, continued her speed for several hours 
and could not be overtaken. Before his pursuers gave 
up the chase they cried out to him, promising quarter and 
safe-conduct, and begging that he would allow them to 
kiss the forehead of his excellent mare. Upon his refusal 
they desisted from pursuing ; and blessing the generous 
creature, they exclaimed, addressing her owner, "Go and 
wash the feet of your mare and drink up the water." 
This is a well-known phrase among the Bedouins, and 
intended to express their boundless admiration of such 
noble animals. Another will relate to you a tale of which 
the following is the substance : 

"An Arab and his tribe had attacked the caravan of 
Damascus in the desert ; the victory was complete, and 



io6 The Old World — Palestine. 



the Arabs were already occupied in loading their rich 
booty, when the troops of the pasha of Acre, coming to 
meet this caravan, fell suddenly upon the victorious Arabs, 
slew a great number of them, made the remainder pris- 
oners, and, having tied them with cords, conducted them 
to Acre to present them before the pasha. Abou-el- 
Marsch, one of the Arab prisoners, had received a ball 
in his arm during the combat ; as his wound was not 
mortal, the Turks fastened him on a camel, and having 
obtained possession of his horse, led off both horse and 
horseman. The evening before they were to enter Acre 
they encamped with their prisoners in the mountains of 
Saphad ; the wounded Arab had his legs bound together 
by a leathern thong, and was stretched near the tent where 
the Turks were sleeping. During the night, kept awake 
by the pain of his wound, he heard his horse neigh 
amongst the others which were picketed round the tents 
according to Oriental usage. Roused by the familiar 
sound, and unable to resist the desire of caressing once 
more the companion of his life, he dragged himself with 
difficulty along the ground on his hands and knees, and 
came up to his courser. 'Poor friend,' said he, 'what 
wilt thou do amongst the Turks ? Thou wilt be immured 
under the arches of a khan, with the horses of an aga or 
a pasha ; the women and the children will no longer bring 
thee camel's milk, or barley or doura in the hollow of 
their hands ; thou wilt no longer run free in the desert, as 
the wind of Egypt ; thou wilt no more cleave the waters 
of the Jordan with thy breast, and cool thy skin as white 
as their foam ; therefore, if I remain a slave, remain thou 
free ! — go, return to the tent thou knowest well ; say to 
my wife that Abou-el-Marsch will return no more, and 
put thy head under the curtains of the tent and kiss the 
hands of my little children.' Whilst thus speaking, Abou- 



Off for the J 'or dan and Dead Sea. 107 



el-Marsch had gnawed through with his teeth the cord of 
goat's-hair with which the horse was fettered, and the 
animal was free ; but seeing his master wounded and 
bound at his feet, the faithful and sagacious creature un- 
derstood by instinct what no language could explain to 
him. He stooped his head, smelt his master, and, seizing 
him with his teeth by the leathern belt round his body, 
went off in a gallop, bore him to his tent, laid him on the 
sand at the feet of his wife and children, and then dropped 
down dead. All the tribe wept for him, the poets have 
celebrated him, and his name is constantly in the mouths 
of the Arabs of Jericho." 

Anecdotes of equine fondness are great favorites with 
the Arabs, and they have an inexhaustible stock of them — 
some highly poetical like the one we have just related, 
and others not a little droll. The following was recounted 
to us at Tripoli on the narrator's "own knowledge :" An 
officer who had gone round to collect taxes for the gov- 
ernor of Hammah was attacked and slain by banditti as 
he was returning from his expedition. His favorite mare, 
knowing' that he had a large sum of money about him, 
fought over his body for some days, and would not have 
been vanquished at last but that she died of starvation. 

An Arab commandant, who offered a horse for sale to 
an Englishman, boasted as one of the great virtues of the 
animal that, under his protection any one could lie down 
to sleep in the desert in perfect security ; for if the Be- 
douins should approach, and the horse should fail to 
wake his master in time fpr escape by biting his shoulder, 
he would pick him up in his mouth and gallop away. 

That our readers may have a still better idea of these 
Bedouins, and learn something more of their peculiarities, 
we beg to make one other quotation from the interesting 
work of Lord Lindsay. He and his party were returning 



io8 The Old World— Palestine. 



from the Jordan to Jerusalem, and, by some mishap, be- 
came belated on the way : "It was," he says, " near one 
in the morning, and we were some five hours' distance 
from Jerusalem. We rode forward as fast as the nature 
of the ground would allow, but after three hours' con- 
tinual ascent both horses and men were so weary that we 
were obliged again to make a brief halt, for which 
Suleiman selected a small gully tolerably sheltered from 
the wind, and containing scattered fuel enough to enable 
us to make a fire. The promise of a little bucksheesh 
sent all our Bedouins in search of twigs and brushwood ; 
a great heap was collected and fired, and the blaze shot 
up as high as a house amidst the loud shouts of the 
Bedouins. Every one lay down to enjoy the cheerful 
glow, only a few of our people going out from time to 
time to bring in fresh food for our fire. The restless 
temperament of the Arabs would not sutler them, how- 
ever, to remain sitting there so quietly, notwithstanding 
their previous fatigue. They began to play tricks and 
tumble each other about on the ground, and to whoop 
aloud ; and when Suleiman told them that if they got up 
a dance we would be sure to give them a bucksheesh, 
they were all ready for it in an instant. We ratified the 
bargain, and had no reason to regret it ; for though the 
promised dance turned out nothing very graceful, still 
there was something exceedingly picturesque and capti- 
vating to the fancy in the group formed by the Bedouins 
by the flickering fire in the wild ravine. Some thirty of 
these people — for several of our mounted Bedouins took 
part in the dance — arranged themselves in a wide semi- 
circle on one side of the fire, while we lay on the other, 
and began a peculiar song. We understood nothing of 
the words, which were repeated over and over again 
without variation ; the melody too was quite monotonous, 



Off for the Jordan and Dead Sea. 109 



and the song had little to deserve the name, except the 
measure, which, as it appeared to me, may be expressed 
somewhat thus : Al — lay — allahla — al — lah — allahla. At 
first the whole line stood motionless ; they then began to 
nod their heads, then to bow slightly, then gradually 
more and more, whilst the singing grew faster and wilder 
as their bodies bent deeper, till at last their faces almost 
touched the ground ; the singing then gradually became 
more slow as with diminished bendings they brought 
their bodies once more to an erect posture. When this 
was done they suddenly clapped their hands, and scam- 
pered round and round like mad for a few minutes, and 
so the ballet ended. 

" Meanwhile our fire had been neglected and had died 
away ; one of the Bedouins took a curious way to rekindle 
it. Bestriding the embers, he sank down nearly into a 
sitting posture, his burnoos forming a sort of funnel, as it 
were, over the ashes ; he then suddenly started up erect, 
and this manoeuvre he repeated several times, until the 
working of this extemporaneous air-pump at last revived 
the flame. 

"After the dancers had lain down a while to recover 
from the effects of their exertions, Suleiman pointed to 
the dawning east, and gave the word to march. We 
mounted our horses again, and in a short while reached 
Bethany. 

" From Bethany we had but a short distance to travel 
to Jerusalem ; and we reached the foot of the Mount of 
Olives just as the morning sun was shedding its first 
beams on the high terraces of the temple that rose above 
us, on the beautiful cypresses that rear their pyramidal 
heads over the porticoes of the mosque of El Aksa, and 
the domelike orange trees overshadowing the temple 
source called the Orange Fountain. The scene recalled 



no The Old World — Palestine. 



to my memory one of the most beautiful Oriental tradi- 
tions invented or preserved by the Arabs. It is thus they 
recount the circumstances that determined Solomon in 
his choice of a site for the temple : 

"'Jerusalem was a ploughed field; and that part of 
the ground where the temple is now erected was in the 
possession of two brothers, one of whom was married 
and had several children, the other lived alone ; they cul- 
tivated in common the field which they had inherited 
from their mother. The time of the harvest being come, 
the two brothers bound their sheaves, and placed them in 
two equal heaps, which they left on the field. During 
the night, the one who was unmarried said to himself, 
"My brother has a wife and children to support; it is 
not just that my portion should be as great as his ; I will 
take some sheaves from my heap and add them to his ; 
he will not perceive and so will not be able to refuse 
them ;" and he did as he had determined. The same 
night the other brother awoke, and said to his wife, "My 
brother is young, and is without a helpmate ; he has no 
one to assist him in his labor, or comfort him when he is 
weary ; it is not just that we should take from the com- 
mon field as many sheaves as he ; let us rise and carry 
secretly to his heap a certain number of sheaves ; he will 
not take notice of them to-morrow, and therefore cannot 
refuse to take them." And thus they did. In the morn- 
ing each of the brothers went to the field, and was much 
surprised to see that the two heaps were still equal ; 
neither of them could account to himself for this prodigy. 
They did the same thing for several nights in succession ; 
but as each of them bore to his brother's heap the same 
number of sheaves, the heaps always remained equal, 
until one night they met together, each carrying the 
sheaves destined for the other. 



Off for the y or dan and Dead Sea. in 



" ; Now. the place where so good a thought had en- 
tered the heads of two men at one time, and had been so 
perseveringlv pursued must be a place agreeable to God, 
and men blessed it. and chose it to build God's house 
thereon.' " 

What a charming tradition ! how redolent of the 
simple goodness of patriarchal manners ! How ancient 
and natural is the impulse that prompts men to conse- 
crate to God a spot where virtue has bloomed on the 
earth ! 

After quitting our camp near Jericho, and while riding 
over the plain toward the Jordan, we keep a sharp look- 
out for the terrible Bedouins hereabout, who. we were 
told at Jerusalem, might pounce down upon us at any 
moment : and we were also informed that if they found 
us unprotected or unprepared for resistance, they would 
rob us of our money, steal our horses, and, perhaps, 
murder us outright. We examine our fire-arms to see 
that they are ready for instant use, and keep our little 
company close together : but we neither see or hear of an 
enemy, and we feel rather chagrined at ourselves for al- 
lowing such bugaboo stories to have induced us to pay 
the expense of a guard. 

That outrages have been committed bv the Jordan and 
Dead Sea Bedouins upon travelers, in times past, there 
can be no doubt : and that thev still have a disposition to 
repeat them, as often as they can with safer}' to them- 
selves, is, we presume, equally true, though now-a-davs 
travelers usually go so well armed that a Bedouin, with 
his old matchlock and long spear or pole, would stand 
but a poor show in a tight, and none know this better 
than themselves. 

The experience of one traveler, in this particular, is so 
drawn to the life that we cannot refrain from repeating it. 

10 



112 The Old World — Palestine. 



Like ourselves, he and his friends took their lunch on the 
banks of the Jordan, having, in the mean while, guards 
stationed at different points, on the lookout for those 
terrible bloodthirsty Bedouins, about which they had 
heard so much at Jerusalem. " Two or three times," he 
says, " during our meal we were disturbed by the shouts 
of our outposts, but we could not perceive anything that 
wore a suspicious appearance. But just as we had fin- 
ished our repast and were getting out our flasks, that we 
might fill them from the water of the Jordan, the cry of 
Arabee I Arabee I burst upon us from all sides, and Sulei- 
man (chief of the guard) came thundering upon us, sword 
in hand, shouting Arabee I Arabee I as loud as he could 
bawl, and motioning us to mount and make ready. The 
bustle and confusion that ensued may easily be imagined. 
Shots were fired among the bushes around us ; blows 
were heard as of swords ringing on the trees ; and our 
Bedouins set up a screeching as if they were all spitted. 
Presently figures were discernible all round us, and we 
soon found that we were beset by a gang of at least thirty 
or forty half-naked rascals, armed only with stout poles. 
There was no telling exactly which party was getting the 
best of the fight, for our Bedouins were completely inter- 
mingled with the assailants. Sometimes one of the latter 
rushed to the spot where we stood, but immediately started 
back on seeing our horses and weapons. The baron now 
mounted, and at the same moment three Arabs, somewhat 
better dressed than the others, made at us from the bushes, 
one of them armed with a pistol, another with a sabre, 
and the third with a matchlock. Our little doctor sin- 
gled out the man with the sword, and charged down upon 
him ; the fellow seemed disposed to stand his ground at 
first, but seeing the prince galloping up to join us, he 
wheeled round and ran back into the jungle. The fellow 



Off for ihe Jordan and Dead Sea. 113 



with the pistol let fly at the baron and me, and we heard 
the ball crash upon the branch of a tree behind us. The 
other had rested his matchlock on a sort of fork ; but 
giving him no time to send us the contents, we struck the 
stirrups into our horses' flanks and rode him down. He 
of the pistol had taken to his heels immediately after 
firing at us ; but before he could reach the shelter of the 
bushes, the painter had sent a ball after him that wounded 
him slightly in the leg ; and a young Greek pilgrim, who 
had accompanied us from Mar Saba, fell upon him before 
he could recover himself, and gave him a sound thrashing 
with his stick ; whilst the bafon whacked away in like 
manner with the flat of his sword at the fellow we had 
ridden down. The whole fight had now luckily become 
more grotesque than formidable ; and Suleiman and his 
Bedouins soon put an end to it ; for, taking their swords 
in their teeth, and their pistols in their hands, they drove 
the Arabs before them like a herd of wild animals to 
where we stood, and in a few minutes we had them all at 
our feet begging lustily for quarter. Suleiman made them a 
thundering harangue, and ordered them to sit down in a 
circle. The matchlock man, whom we had ridden down, 
and who was the sheikh of the party, humbly approached 
Suleiman, the hem of whose caftan he thrice pressed to 
his forehead in sign of submission. 

"After some parleying, in which the whole gang of 
Arabs occasionally took part with loud screeches, Sulei- 
man asked the baron what he intended to do with the 
fellows ; they were poor devils who had only a mind to 
help themselves to a little bread to stay their hunger. 
We knew that well enough ; but what was to be done ? 
If we gave them a few kicks and sent them about their 
business, we might expect that they would again waylay 
us that evening in the mountains in still greater numbers. 



ii4 The Old World — Palestine. 



Our wisest course, therefore, was to follow Suleiman's ad- 
vice, that we should let them partake of our bread and 
salt, and keep them with us till we reached Jerusalem 
next morning. Accordingly we turned out the contents 
of our provision-bags and gave them to ovr vanquished 
foes. Thereupon our own Bedouins smoked a pipe with 
the seniors of the gang, and peace was established be- 
tween us." 

Having finished our inspection of the Jordan — bathed 
in its waters — lunched on its western shore — gathered two 
bottles of its water to take to our far-distant home — and 
talked over the incidents ^which have given to it such a 
world-wide interest, we again mount our horses, and a 
ride of about one hour over a level plain brings us to the 
shores of the Dead Sea. In the mean time the clouds 
have gathered blackness, and a sharp shower is upon us. 
We have our small tent — which we had brought along 
for the convenience of bathing — hastily pitched, and while 
Lily and some lady friends remain therein, Lu and I go 
off some distance along the shore to take a bath, as our 
time will not permit of our waiting until the shower is 
over. 

Having read of Mr. Prime's sufferings from too hastily 
plunging into these waters, we take the precaution to go in 
very carefully, and keep our head, and especially our eyes, 
clear from the water ; but notwithstanding our intended 
carefulness, some of the water gets in the hair on the 
back part of our head, and smarts and burns intensely 
for some time. The only unpleasantness to our skin is a 
slight smarting sensation, and a greasy feeling, which re- 
main several hours after the bath. Oh, how we wish 
for another plunge in the Jordan just now, to neutralize 
the effects of the Dead Sea bath ! and if we were visiting 
these parts again, we would come the other way — that is, 



Off for the Jordan and Dead Sea. 115 



by the way of Bethlehem, if for no other reason than to 
have a bath in the Jordan after the one in the Dead Sea. 

The buoyancy of these waters is very considerable, and 
one finds no difficulty in floating leisurely upon them. Its 
specific gravity is great, consequent on the large amount 
of the chlorides which it holds in solution— analyses hav- 
ing shown that, in one hundred parts of water, over 
twenty-four are chlorides of calcium, magnesium, potas- 
sium, sodium, and manganese. 

From the report of Lieutenant Lynch, of the United 
States Survey, we learn that the entire length of this sea 
is forty-six miles; greatest width, eleven miles ; medium 
depth, one thousand feet ; level below the Mediterranean, 
thirteen hundred feet ; and below Jerusalem, nearly four 
thousand feet. 

The historical and biblical interest of this sea is cen- 
tred in the fact that upon the surface, or part of the 
surface of earth which it now covers, once stood the 
flourishing cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, upon both of 
which " the Lord rained brimstone and fire from out of 
heaven ; and he overthrew those cities and all the plain, 
and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew 
upon the ground" — Lot and his family alone being ex- 
cepted from the destruction. 

This whole plain of the Jordan, once so rich and 
flourishing, is now a scene of desolation, and one cannot 
but feel that the curse of God has visited, and is still 
resting upon, it. 

Perhaps no body of water on all the earth's surface has 
attracted so large a share of scientific research as this. 
Travelers have visited it from almost every civilized na- 
tion of the globe, and even governments — including our 
own — have thought it not unworthy of careful investiga- 
tion. To notice what some of these travelers have 
10 * 



n6 The Old World — Palestine. 



said of this remarkable body of water will not occupy 
much of our time, and will, we think, prove inter- 
esting. 

Josephus, whose account necessarily embodies the in- 
formation possessed by those who had for ages been in- 
habitants of the country, and by whom it must have been 
intimately known in every part, after giving its length 
and breadth — corresponding very nearly with those of 
later travelers — adds : " The shores are unfruitful ; the 
waters very bitter, and so dense that they bear up the 
heaviest things thrown into it ; nor would it be easy for 
any one to sink therein, even if he wished. Accordingly 
when Vespasian (the great Roman emperor) visited the 
lake, he made experiment of this by causing some men 
who could not swim. to have their hands tied behind them 
and to be cast into the lake, when it was seen that they 
were buoyed up by the water, even as light bodies are 
impelled upward by the wind." 

In speaking of the black bitumen, of which large 
quantities, then as now, were thrown up to the surface of 
the lake, he compares these masses, quaintly enough, to 
" headless bulls, both in shape and size ;" adding that 
" men went out in boats to collect it, which was a work 
of some labor from the tenacity of the mass, which ren- 
dered it difficult to proportion the quantity taken on board 
to the burden of the vessel. It was used for calking 
ships and in embalments, as well as for various medi- 
cinal purposes." 

"This land of Sodom," he says, "was once a blessed 
and happy country ; but, for the iniquities of its people, 
was burned up and consumed by the fires of heaven. Of 
this divine judgment the land still offered abundant 
traces. Even some remains of the ruined cities might 
still be perceived. The fruits which grew there were 



Off for the Jordan and Dead Sea. 117 



also appropriate monuments of its condition ; for, while 
to the eye, they seemed pleasant and good for food, they 
were crushed in the hand that plucked them, and offered 
nothing but dust and ashes." 

We may add, with reference to the apples of Sodom, 
en passant, that while riding from the Jordan to the 
Dead Sea, Lily, Lu, and ourself examine every tree, 
and bush, and twig on the way, hoping to find something 
of the kind, but our search is in vain. 

The best and most probable description of this curious 
production is given by Dr. Robinson : 

" One of the first objects," he says, " which attracted 
our notice on arriving at 'Ain Jidy was a tree with a sin- 
gular fruit, which, without knowing at the moment 
whether it had been observed by former travelers or 
not, instantly suggested to our minds the far-famed 
fruits 

' Which grew 
Near that bituminous lake where Sodom stood.' 

" This was the osher of the Arabs, the sclepias agi- 
gantea vet procera of botanists, which is found in abun- 
dance in Upper Egypt and Nubia, and also in Arabia 
Felix, but seems to be confined in Palestine to the borders 
of the Dead Sea. We saw it only at 'Ain Jidy ; Hassel- 
quist found it in the desert between Jericho and the 
northern shore ; and Irby and Mangles met with it of 
large size at the south end of the sea, and on the isthmus 
of the peninsula. 

" We saw here several trees of the kind, the trunks 
of which were six or eight inches in diameter, and the 
whole height from ten to fifteen feet. Irby and Mangles 
found them measuring, in many instances, two feet or 



Ii8 The Old World— Palestine. 



more in circumference, and the boughs at least fifteen 
feet in height ; a size which far exceeded any they saw 
in Nubia. The tree has a grayish, cork-like bark, with 
long oval leaves ; and in its general appearance and char- 
acter it might be taken for a gigantic perennial species of 
the milk-weed or silk-weed, found in the northern parts 
of the American States. Its leaves and flowers are very 
similar to those of the latter plant, and when broken off 
it in like manner discharges a milky fluid. The fruit 
greatly resembles externally a large smooth apple or 
orange hanging in clusters of three or four together ; and 
when ripe is of a yellow color. It was now fair and de- 
licious to the eye, and soft to the touch ; but on being 
pressed or struck it explodes with a puff, like a bladder 
or puff-ball, leaving in the hand only the shreds of the 
thin rind and a few fibres. It is, indeed, filled chiefly 
with air like a bladder, which gives it the round form ; 
while in the centre a small slender pod runs through it 
from the stem, and is connected by thin filaments with 
the rind. The pod* contains a small quantity of fine silk 
with seeds, precisely like the pod of the silk-weed, though 
very much smaller ; being, indeed, scarcely the tenth 
part as large. The Arabs collect the silk and twist it 
into matches for their guns ; preferring it to the common 
match, because it requires no sulphur to render it com- 
bustible. 

" The most definite account we have of the apples of 
Sodom, so called, is in Josephus, who as a native of the 
country is a better authority than Tacitus or other foreign 
writers. After speaking of the conflagration of the plain 
and the yet remaining tokens of the divine fire, he re- 
marks that ' there are still to be seen ashes reproduced in 
the fruits, which indeed resemble edible fruits in color, 
but on being plucked with the hands are dissolved 



Off for the Jordan and Dead Sea. 119 



into smoke and ashes.' In the account, after a due 
allowance for the marvelous in all popular reports, 
I find nothing which does not apply almost literally 
to the fruit of the osher as we saw it. It must be 
plucked and handled with great care, in order to pre- 
serve it from bursting. We attempted to carry off some 
of the boughs and fruit with us to Jerusalem, but with- 
out success. 

" Hasselquist finds the apples of Sodom in the fruit of 
the Solanum melongena (night-shade mad-apple), which 
we saw in great abundance at 'Ain Jidy, and in the plain 
of Jericho. These apples are much smaller than those 
of the osher, and when ripe are full of small black grains. 
There is, however, nothing like explosion, nothing like 
' smoke and ashes,' except occasionally, as the same natur- 
alist remarks, ' when the fruit is punctured by an insect {ten- 
thredo), which converts the whole inside into dust, leav- 
ing nothing but the rind entire, without any loss of color.' 
We saw the solanum and the osher growing side by 
side ; the former presenting nothing remarkable in its ap- 
pearance and being found in other parts of the country, 
while the latter immediately arrested our attention by its 
singular accordance with the ancient story, and is more- 
over peculiar in Palestine to the shores of the Dead 
Sea." 

Antonius Martyr, another ancient writer, merely speaks 
of the bitumen and sulphur of the lake, and the absence 
of any living thing in its waters, or of trees or verdure on 
its shores. But he adds that in July and August it was 
usual in his time for lepers to resort to the lake, and bath- 
ing in its w T aters it sometimes pleased God that they were 
healed. 

Bocard confirms the account of its sterile shores. A 
hideous vapor, he says, rises from the lake, so that the 



120 



The Old World— Palestine. 



smoke and darkness by which it was invested made 
it no inapt type of hell. This vapor, he adds, is so 
deleterious, that the barbarians inhabiting the neighbor- 
hood took care to fix themselves beyond the point to 
which it continues to be injurious when driven before 
the wind. 

Other old writers describe the water as an abominable 
infusion of nitre and sulphur, so offensive and nauseous 
to the smell and taste, that the salt of the lake was never 
applied to any use. Arculfus notices the saline deposit 
on the borders of the lake, caused by the absorption by 
heat of the water thrown high up the shores by tempests, 
or that is left when the lake has sunk to its usual level 
after the periodical overflow. 

We cannot but think that these old writers must have 
drawn somewhat on their imagination, or else that the 
character of the waters and the shores must have changed 
considerably since their time. The waters are certainly 
very bitter, and while tasting it we think that a solution 
of epsom salts and the tincture of quassia would make a 
compound of somewhat similar taste, but we observe 
nothing nauseous or offensive in the smell ; and as to the 
shores, while their general appearance is that of desolate- 
ness, the small trees, and shrubs, and tufts of grass near 
them prove that the soil is not wholly sterile. We ob- 
serve no fish, nor do we think any are to be found in the 
lake, and this is easily accounted for by the chemical con- 
stituents of the water. We notice large quantities of 
drift-wood on the shore, and any quantity of small shells, 
but both of these, no doubt, come from the waters of the 
Jordan. All the shells we see are of the fresh-water 
species. In regard to the smoke and the noxious vapors 
which the old writers speak of as arising from the Dead 
Sea, we observe nothing of the kind, though we can 



Off for the Jordan and Dead Sea. 121 



easily understand that in a basin so confined, and in which 
the air becomes so intensely heated, and where, moreover, 
the water is of such peculiar quality, the process of 
evaporation, or the incumbent vapor, may oftener appear 
visible than under other circumstances. 

The description and explanation of these phenomena 
given by Stephens accord precisely with our own views. 
He says : "One of the most singular circumstances in the 
character of the Dead Sea is the deep depression of its 
level below that of the Mediterranean, amounting, accord- 
ing to the recent survey by Lieutenant Symonds, to thir- 
teen hundred and eleven feet, a circumstance which must 
have a remarkable effect on the mean temperature of the 
region. The phenomena witnessed here are such as 
might naturally be expected from the constitution of the 
waters and the nature of the surrounding district — a 
naked, solitary desert. The sea lies in its deep trough, 
flanked by lofty cliffs of bare limestone rock, and exposed 
for seven or eight months in each year to the unclouded 
beams of a burning sun. Nothing, therefore, but sterility 
and death-like solitude can be looked for upon its shores ; 
and nothing else is actually found, except in those parts 
where there are fountains or streams of fresh water. The 
stories of the pestiferous exhalations and the bursts of 
smoke that rise from this dreaded expanse are a mere 
fable : there must naturally be an immense evaporation 
from it in consequence of its low position and exposure 
to the summer heats : but the character of this evapora- 
tion cannot well be different from that of any other body 
of water in similar circumstances. 

The Egyptian heat of the climate, which is found 
throughout the whole ghor, or lower valley of the Jordan 
and the lake, is in itself unhealthy ; and in connection with 
the marshes gives rise in summer to frequent intermittent 



122 The Old World — Palestine. 

fevers ; so that the inhabitants are a feeble and sickly- 
race. But this has no necessary connection with the 
Dead Sea, as such ; and the same phenomena might 
probably exist in an equal degree were the waters of the 
lake fresh and limpid, or even were there no lake at 
all." 



CHAPTER VI. 



OVER THE HILLS TO BETHLEHEM. 

YOU would have laughed, and laughed right heartily, 
to have seen our little party on the shores of the 
Dead Sea. Would you not like to have a pen-and-ink- 
sketch? Certainly, certainly you shall have it. 

You see that little tent about twenty yards from the 
shore ; well, that is our traveling kitchen generally, but 
to-day we have made a traveling bath-house of it : first we 
pitched it on the banks of the Jordan and now it is here ; 
that is to say, we had intended to make the same use of 
it here that we did at the Jordan, but the sharp shower 
which has come suddenly upon us spoiled this calculation 
completely, so that it is now occupied, as you see, by Lily 
and two other ladies, to protect them from the storm, in- 
stead of being used as a bath-house for ourselves. The 
tent is only large enough for the ladies, and the half dozen 
gentlemen of our party go wandering around on the des- 
olate shore, each muffled up as best he may be, like so 
many ghosts just risen from the waters of the deep Dead 
Sea! 

Major F. and Harvey say they would like to go 

bathing with us, but they don't know what to do with 
their clothes in such a storm ; and then the ladies, too, 
they fear, may see us from the tent door. Nonsense ! say 
11 123 



124 



The Old World — Palestine. 



we ; come to the Dead Sea and not float upon its waters? 
No, sir, if the rain came down twice as hard as it does, 
and the entire shore was lined with ladies, we would 
go in bathing — "peaceably if we could, forcibly if we 
must !" 

Come, Lu and Charley, we will go in anyhow ; and with 
one umbrella between us three, away we scamper up the 
shore until we reach a pile of drift-wood, and then, fixing 
the open umbrella as a roof, and the drift-wood around it 
in the shape of a patent corn-crib, we hastily undress, 
throw our clothes under the umbrella, and are in the sea 
in a jiffy. How we flounder around like porpoises, and 
how dearly we pay for the pleasure by subsequent pain 
from the effects of the water, has not all this been told in 
a preceding chapter, and why repeat it here ? 

" Taal hennee, taal gei, Mohammed !" 

" Eiwa, ana gei, Master !" 

" Coming, are you? then move along faster, and down 
with the tent as soon as possible, and let's be off for Mar 
Saba." 

" Praised be the Prophet for evermore !" 

From the Dead Sea our course lies in a south-westerly 
direction, though for a. half hour or more after starting 
we continue along the north-westerly shore of the sea, 
until we reach a high bluff, near the water's edge, and 
from thence we commence to ascend the rugged moun- 
tain-path which leads toward Mar Saba. This place we 
reach about a half hour before sunset, after a tedious ride 
over most terrible roads, and here we encamp for the 
night. 

Leaving Lily in the tent— for females are not allowed 
to enter this convent under any circumstances, there being 
a tradition with its monks that the walls will tumble 



Ove?' the Hills to Bethlehem. 125 



down whenever a woman enters its portals — we hasten 
to the convent to examine it before the night sets in. 

It is a curious old structure, and well repays a visit. 
Founded by St. Saba in A. D. 439, and then consisting 
•of a single chamber and chapel, excavated in the solid 
rock, at the side of a deep ravine, addition after addition 
has since been made until it now embraces many rooms 
and chapels, some excavated in the rock, and others of 
masonry. Around the whole is a high, thick wall, to 
keep out intruders, and to protect it from the gaze of the 
curious. 

Our guide takes us from chapel to chapel, and from 
room to room ; shows us the forty-four skulls of the monks 
who were murdered by the Persians at the time they plun- 
dered the convent in the seventh century ; the large and 
well-executed picture which professes to give the features 
of each ; the tomb of St. Saba himself ; and the identical 
room and chapel which the saint occupied for many years, 
and of which, it is said, he dispossessed a lion upon his 
first occupancy of it. 

There are now thirty-six monks and some three or four 
hermits occupying the convent ; and from the sleek, lazy 
appearance of those whom we meet, we should judge 
that they have good living, and but little to do. This 
convent has the reputation of being the richest, as it is 
the oldest, in Syria. 

Short extracts from what Olin, Stephens, and Chateau- 
briand say of this convent will, we think, be appreciated 
by our readers. 

"Few situations on the surface of the globe," says 
Olin, " are better adapted to the tastes of an anchorite, 
or ensure more complete seclusion from the world, than 
the convent of St. Saba. The dominion of sterility and 
desolation is here complete and undisputed. Beside this 



126 



The Old World— Palestine. 



general recommendation, the structure of the rock which 
forms the steep banks or rather walls of Kedron afforded 
peculiar facilities for the formation of cells for the resi- 
dence of a vast number of hermits. The channel is here 
three hundred feet or more in depth. It maybe sixty 
feet wide at the bottom by one hundred and fifty at top, 
the sides being perpendicular, but broken by a number 
of offsets, and forming a succession of steps, of various 
but inconsiderable width, ascending from the bottom quite 
to the top of the chasm. These towering cliffs are per- 
forated in every direction with a multitude of cavities 
formed by the displacement of some of the strata, which 
are as regular and distinct as the layers of stone in a pile 
of masonry. Nearly or quite all the apartments within 
the monastery are formed of these natural cavities, that 
immense structure which stretches from the top of the 
bank to the very bottom of the deep abyss being only a vast 
front, including a multitude of cells, with staircases, cor- 
ridors, and covered ways, etc. I must not forget to men- 
tion a large palm tree growing in a wall on one of the 
terraces, and which was planted, as they say, by St. Saba 
himself in the fourth century; I am sure that every 
traveler will notice it as I did ; one must be surrounded 
on all sides by such appalling sterility as here prevails in 
order to feel the full value of a tuft of verdure." 

" The chapel, like all other Greek chapels," says 
Stephens, " was full of gaudy and ridiculous ornaments 
and paintings ; and among the latter was one that seems 
to attract the particular admiration and reverence of the 
devout. At the top of the picture sat the Father, sur- 
rounded by angels, and patriarchs, and good men ; and 
on his right hand was a range of two story-houses, St. 
Peter standing before them with the key in his hand. 
Below the Father was a large, powerful man, with a huge 



Ove?' the Hills to Bethlehem. 



127 



pair of scales in his hand, weighing sinners as they came 
up, and billeting on each the weight of his sins ; below 
him were a number of naked figures, in a sitting posture, 
with their hands spread out and their legs enclosed in long 
boxes extended horizontally. On the left a stream of fire 
was coming down from the Father, and collecting in the 
mouth of a huge nondescript sea-monster, while in front 
stood a great half-naked figure pitching in the sinners 
like sticks into a furnace, and the damned were kicking 
about in the flames. On the right was Elias doing battle 
with Antichrist ; and below was a representation of the 
last day, and the graves giving up their dead in almost 
every conceivable variety of form and situation." 

" In another chapel, dedicated to John of Damascus," 
says Chateaubriand, " behind an iron grating in a grotto 
of the rock, was a most extraordinary assemblage of 
human bones, the remains, as the monks assert, of four- 
teen thousand martyrs, who were slaughtered in the 
valley. 

" The principal, who was polite in his attentions, con- 
ducted us to the cell which formed the germ of this 
immense establishment, and in which its founder, St. 
Saba, spent many years of his life. It was remarkable 
above the rest for nothing but its greater rudeness and 
more neglected state, and for the interesting tradition be- 
longing to it, which the venerable monk related to us 
with the air of a man who fully believed what he spoke, 
and who expected to be believed. This cave was origin- 
ally a lion's den, and was in the actual occupancy of the 
monarch of the wilderness when the holy Saba first 
visited this sequestered spot with the pious design of 
founding a religious house. He was in a moment satis- 
fied with its admirable adaptation to his purpose, when 

he walked into the den of the lion, and told him that one 
11 * 



128 The Old World— Palestine. 



of them must forthwith evacuate the premises. The 
magnanimous beast quietly and courteously retired, and 
left his noble lair to its higher destination. 

"In addition to its own strong, high walls and massive 
iron doors, which give this convent the aspect of a feudal 
castle filled with bustling warriors, rather than that of a 
hermitage of peaceable, praying men, there are two 
towers occupying higher ground a short distance from 
the main edifice. They seem from their position to be 
designed to guard against surprises, as the convent itself 
is proof against any open assault. The monks stand in 
sore dread of the Bedouins, who, when any cause of irri- 
tation exists, often lurk about the high cliffs that over- 
look the convent on the opposite side of the ravine, and 
sometimes fire on the inmates from that commanding 
position." 

From Mar Saba we go direct to Bethlehem. The road 
is rough and very hilly, and the time required to pass 
over it is about four hours. The town looks beautiful at 
a distance, but the enchantment vanishes as soon as you 
reach its streets, which are narrow, dirty, and exceedingly 
rough. The town is principally located on a side hill ; 
the houses rise one above another, and nearly all of them 
are built of rough stone without any finish on the outside, 
and possessing few of the comforts of civilization within. 
The people are comparatively civil to strangers, as their 
chief profits consist in the beads, shells, and other trinkets 
which they keep for sale, and which strangers are ex- 
pected to buy. We purchase a considerable quantity of 
these as souvenirs of the place and as presents for friends 
at home. The number of its inhabitants is put down at 
two thousand five hundred. We hardly think there are 
so many. 

The country round and about Bethlehem is stony and 



Over the Hills to Bethlehem. 129 



only partially cultivated, though it is easy to be seen that 
under the care of an industrious and enterprising people 
it might be made, as it once was, very productive. Near 
here were the rich fields in which Ruth, the Moabite, 
gleaned after the reapers of Boaz ; here it was that Boaz 
said to his reapers, " Let her glean even among the 
sheaves, and reproach her not : — and let fall some of the 
handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them that she may 
glean them, and rebuke her not ;" and here, too, it was 
that the good old man whispered those gentle words to 
the kind, loving, confiding Ruth, " Blessed be thou of the 
Lord, my daughter .... for all the city of my people 
doth know that thou art a virtuous woman." 

One of the reasons given — and a very good one — why 
the country about Bethlehem is so little cultivated is, that 
the Bedouins, who are always in the vicinity, seize the 
growing fruit and corn, and the incursion of a single 
night is often sufficient to frustrate the industry of a whole 
year. Even in broad daylight, says Dr. Olin, these bar- 
barians do not hesitate to drive their beasts through 
fields of wheat under the owner's eye, and to graze their 
animals upon them without scruple. Under such dis- 
couragements the people of Bethlehem naturally turn 
their attention to other employments than agriculture. 

Once within the town the first place we visit is the 
convent. This is a large collection of imposing buildings, 
located near the outer edge of the village. The original 
church was built by the Empress Helena in the early part 
of the fourth century, portions of which still remain. We 
particularly notice the beams of cedar, brought from the 
forests of Lebanon, which seem as sound to-day as they 
were when first put here, some fifteen hundred years ago. 
So many additions and alterations have been made to the 
old church, and so many Catholic embellishments added, 



130 The Old Wo?'ld — Palestine. 



that it is now difficult to determine what was the form 
and finish of the original structure. 

Our guide — a Greek priest — first conducts us to the 
Chapel of the Nativity, to reach which we descend four- 
teen steps. It consists of a room, excavated in the rock, 
about thirty-eight feet in length by twelve in width. At 
the side of the room is a recess, which is said to mark 
the exact spot of the manger in which the young child 
was laid. On the floor of the chapel, underneath this 
recess, is a silver star, around which are engraved the 
words, " Hie de Vergine Maria Jesus Christus natus est." 
Here Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary. 

On the ceiling of the chapel is another star, which is 
said to be under that part of the heavens in which the 
star appeared which directed the wise men of the East to 
the birth-place of the Saviour ; and on the side of the 
chapel, opposite the place of the manger, an altar marks 
the spot where the wise men knelt " when they opened 
their treasures and presented unto him gifts ; gold, frank- 
incense, and myrrh." 

A little farther on is an altar to Joseph — this being the 
spot, it is said, to which he retired at the moment of the 
nativity ; and a little farther, is the Altar of the Shep- 
herds ; and still farther, the Altar of the Innocents, which 
is supposed to mark the opening to the tomb or grotto in 
which the bodies of the children were thrown (twenty 
thousand) after the terrible massacre ordered by Herod. 
Other grottoes and tombs are pointed out, the most noted 
of which is that of St. Jerome. In the room or chapel 
where the tomb is located this saint spent the greater 
part of his life, and here he died. One of the finest pic- 
tures in the Vatican, at Rome, is that of St. Jerome 
taking the sacrament on his death-bed, in this chapel. It 
and Raphael's " Transfiguration" and " Madonna de 



Over the Hills to Bethlehem. 131 



Foligno" occupy a room by themselves, and are regarded 
by many as the three masterpieces of the world. 

To reach these several chapels, grottoes, and tombs, we 
are taken through dark, narrow passage-ways, underneath 
the floors of the larger chapels or churches ; and when 
we have finished our examinations below we visit the 
churches above. These structures are of considerable 
size, and finished off with altars, pictures, etc., in the 
usual style of Catholic churches. They belong respect- 
ively to the Latins, Greeks, and Armenians, each of 
whom claim a joint proprietorship in the Chapel of the 
Nativity, and in the altars, grottoes, and tombs heretofore 
mentioned. 

Near the convent is a burial-ground, concerning which 
one traveler gives his experience as follows : 

" We passed the night in the convent, where we met 
with hospitable treatment. I was roused at daylight in 
the morning by a loud wailing beneath the window, 
which on rising I found overlooked the burial-ground, 
where all the women of Bethlehem seemed to have as- 
sembled to call on the dead, as is customary among them 
on certain days after the decease. I immediately went 
down to the gathering, and drew fresh tears and louder 
shouts by my presence, while many inflicted severe blows 
on their breasts. One old woman bared her bosom, 
which required no great ceremony indeed, for she had 
but one garment on, and, throwing herself on the grave, 
thumped in good earnest. They had brought flowers 
and herbs to strew. There would have been much in- 
terest in a quiet moan ; but so dire a yell set all sympathy 
to flight in a moment." 

Leaving the convent, a ride of ten minutes through a 
narrow street brings us to what is known as the " Milk 
Grotto." A middle-aged Syrian woman, who occupies a 



132 



The Old World— Palestine. 



room at the side of the entrance-way, receives us kindly, 
and points the way to the grotto, to reach which we de- 
/ scend a number of steps. The building erected over the 

grotto has quite a tasteful appearance, but the grotto 
itself is nothing more than a cave hewn out of the white 
limestone rock ; though, strange to say, the whiteness is 
not attributed to the character of the rock, but to a few 
drops of the Virgin Mary's milk which she is said to 
have spilled while nursing the "young child" in this 
cave ; and, stranger still, it is even now believed that 
pieces of this stone, carried about the person, have the 
power of supernaturally increasing a woman's milk, and 
pieces are carried to all parts of the world for this iden- 
tical purpose. The woman in* attendance very kindly 
offers us a handful of these pieces of stone as we are 
leaving, but not having faith in their virtue, we respect- 
fully decline to encumber our pockets with them. 

Tradition points out this grotto as the one in which 
Mary and the child were concealed during the slaughter 
of the " innocents" by Herod ; and prior to the time 
when Joseph " arose and took the young child and his 
mother by . night, and departed into Egypt." 

Neither Bethlehem, nor the convent, nor the milk 
grotto, nor anything else in or about the town, would 
excite the least interest in the mind of any one but from 
the fact that here — yes, just here, " in Bethlehem of 
Judea" — Christ was born ! Here the " day-star" first 
had an existence — a star that never has had, nor will 
have, a setting ! 

Whether or not Jesus was born in the rock-hewn grotto 
pointed out as the place of nativity matters not a whit to 
us. It is enough to know that he was born in Bethlehem, 
and that this is Bethlehem. As tradition, however, for 
the first three hundred years pointed this out as the iden- 



Over the Hills to Bethlehem. 



133 



tical spot, and history has ever since recognized it as such, 
we are content to believe that not only in this town, but 
in this very rock-hewn cave (then used as a stable) , Jesus 
was born of the Virgin Mary ! 

In which of the fields near by the shepherds watched 
their flocks when " the angels of the Lord came upon 
them, and the glory of the Lord shone around about 
them," we do not know ; but we do know that the field 
is somewhere in this " same country," and that is quite 
sufficient ! 

From Bethlehem we go over a rough but not very hilly 
road, and after one hour's travel we reach the Pools of 
Solomon, w T here we encamp for the night. 

These pools are located in the slope of a narrow valley, 
where Solomon, in his time, probably had a palace or 
country-seat. They are three in number, and so arranged 
that the surplus waters of the upper pool run into the 
next, and the surplus waters of the second into the third 
— the water, in all, being supplied from a splendid foun- 
tain about one hundred yards above the upper one. 

The entire measurements, as given by Robinson, are as 
follows : 

Upper pool, length three hundred and eighty feet, and 
width one hundred and sixty feet at the west end, and 
two hundred and fifty feet at the east. Depth twenty-five 
feet. 

Middle pool, length four hundred and twenty-three feet, 
by one hundred and forty-eight feet at the west end and 
two hundred and fifty feet at the east end. Depth thirty- 
nine feet. 

Lower pool, length five hundred and eighty- two feet, 
by one hundred and forty-eight feet at the west and two 
hundred and seven at the east end. Depth fifty feet. 

The walls of the pools are of good masonry, and built 



134 The Old World — Palestine. 



to conform somewhat with the slope of the valley — narrow 
above and wider below. The lower pool has recently 
undergone repairs, and all three are in a good state of 
preservation, considering that their original construction 
dates back nearly three thousand years. 

The fountain from which these pools receive their water 
is in the side of the hill above, considerably under ground, 
and has a substantial structure erected over and about it. 
The water flows from three clefts in the rock to a com- 
mon centre, and from thence it is conducted to the upper 
pool, through an underground aqueduct. The water is 
very sweet and clear, and flows out in great quantities. 

An aqueduct was built from these pools to the temple 
in Jerusalem, and the place is still pointed out by the side 
of the inner wall where the water formerly flowed, but 
at the time of our visit none was flowing. As stated in a 
former chapter, it would only require a reasonable amount 
of skill and engineering, and a comparatively small 
amount of money, to make the water in these pools sup- 
ply every house in Jerusalem with fresh, pure water ; and 
in the hands of any other government than the present 
one this would speedily be done. 

A little to the east of the pools, toward the region of 
the Dead Sea, is a very large grotto, supported by great 
pillars of the natural rock, perfectly dry, without petrifac- 
tion or stalactites ; it is a complete labyrinth within, and, 
as in many of the ancient catacombs, a man might easily 
lose himself for ever in its windings. It lies in the 
mountainous wilderness of Engaddi, and is supposed to 
be the Cave of Adullam, where David received the mu- 
tinous and discontented spirits of his days, and where, 
when Saul was in pursuit of him, he cut off the skirts of 
his garment, and suffered him to go away unharmed. 

Leaving our tents pitched at the Pools of Solomon, we 



Over the Hills to Bethlehem. 135 



visit Hebron on the following day and return. This is a 
hard day's ride, over a rough road, and accompanied 
with more vexation of spirit than profit, as the sequel will 
show. 

On the way we visit Abraham's oak, and lunch under 
its widespreading branches. Under this oak, it is said, 
Abraham pitched his tent, and here the angels visited 
him. The oak is certainly very large and very old, but 
that this identical tree has stood for about four thousand 
years is neither probable nor possible. 

An hour's ride from the oak brings us to Hebron, a 
miserable Syrian village, of rough stone houses, with 
narrow, filthy streets. Its inhabitants are nearly all Mo- 
hammedans of the most bigoted sort, who look upon 
Christians with an eye of jealousy, if not of hatred. 

We ride directly to the mosque ( formerly a Christian 
church, built by the Empress Helena) which is erected 
over the cave of Machpelah, in which lie buried Abraham 
and Sarah his wife, Isaac, Rebecca, and Leah, and, it is 
claimed, though we think it doubtful, the bones of Joseph, 
which were brought up out of Egypt. A crowd of Mos- 
lems, men, women, and children, are in the street leading 
to and about the door of the mosque, who receive us with 
scowling faces. For the bucksheesh which they expect 
to get they are willing to admit us about ten feet within 
the gate of the outer court ; but to admit the eye of a 
Christian to gaze upon the tomb of Abraham would be 
too great a sacrilege for a follower of the Prophet to think 
of. Our blood boils with indignation at this additional 
specimen of Moslem bigotry, and we feel that if we had 
a dozen other Americans with us, each with a revolver 
in his hand, we should like to clear our way — by threats, 
if possible, but by bullets, if necessary — to the tombs of 
the fathers. We wonder not now at the zealous and holy 



136 The Old World — Palestine. 



enthusiasm of the Crusaders, and had we lived in their 
day we should have liked to join them in ridding Pales- 
tine of these bigoted Mohammedans. 

Our experience at Hebron, however, is only a counter- 
part of that of all other travelers who have visited it. 
One tourist says of it : 

" Hebron, one of the oldest cities of Canaan, David's 
capital before he conquered Jerusalem, is now a small 
town, containing seven or eight hundred Arab families. 
The present inhabitants are the wildest, most lawless, and 
desperate people in the Holy Land ; and it is a singular 
fact, that they sustain now the same mutinous character 
with the rebels of ancient days, who armed with David 
against Saul, and with Absalom against David. The 
place bears no traces of the glory of its Jewish king ; 
earthquakes, wars, pestilence, and famine have passed 
over it, and a small town of white houses, compactly 
built on the side of the mountain, a mosque and two 
minarets, are all that mark the ancient capital of Judea. 

"There is little to detain the traveler at Hebron. The 
great mosque is said to cover the site of the Cave of 
Machpelah, nor does there appear to be any. reason for 
doubting this tradition. In different parts of the enclo- 
sure the Mohammedans have built tombs for the patri- 
archs, while their actual place of sepulture is held to be 
in a cavern below, which even the faithful are not per- 
mitted to enter. The Moslems of Hebron are exceed- 
ingly bigoted ; and when, with a Jewish companion, I 
stopped for a moment to look up at the long marble 
staircase leading to the tomb of Abraham, a Turk came 
out from the bazaars, and with furious gesticulations 
gathered a crowd round us ; and a Jew and a Christian 
were driven with contempt from the sepulchre of the 
patriarch whom they both revered." 



Over the Hills to Bethlehem. 137 



The " Valley of Eshcol" in which Hebron is situated 
is still celebrated for its grapes, as in the day when the 
spies sent by Moses " cut down from thence a branch 
with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between 
two on a staff''' We notice a large number of vineyards 
near Hebron, and are especially struck with the great 
thickness of some of the vines. They train them by run- 
ning three vines together, in a pyramidal form, that each 
may rest upon and support the other. We also notice 
some fields of wheat and barley in this valley, though all 
around the hills are rocky, barren, and desolate. 

Hebron, next to Damascus, is said to be the oldest city 
in the world, though it has not, like wine, improved from 
age. It is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament 
Scriptures, and seems to have been one of the most im- 
portant and distinguished cities of the ancient Israelites. 
Here King David for a long time kept his court ; it was 
this city which Joshua gave to Caleb the son of Jephun- 
neh, " because that he wholly followed the Lord God of 
Israel;'''' and it was here that John the Baptist was born. 

We are so out of patience with the bigoted Hebronites, 
for their refusal to admit us to the tombs of the fathers, 
that our visit is anything but satisfactory, and our ride 
back to the Pools of Solomon seems long and dreary. 
In this ride, however, we pass some ruins which are said 
to be the remains of the house of Abraham ; also a large 
fountain with ruins near it, the history of which is not 
known ; another large ruin called Beit Gala ; and still 
another called Beit Oumar ; but we are weary and we 
hasten on to our tents. 

Early next morning we have our tents struck and hasten 
toward Jerusalem, for it is the Sabbath, and we are 
anxious to reach there in time to attend service at the 
English church. 



138 



The Old World — Palestine- 



In about three-fourths of an hour we reach the tomb 
of Rachel, at which we halt for a few moments. It is a 
stone structure, probably twenty feet square, having a 
round roof or dome, and an open space or room next to 
the road. The door to the tomb is locked, but by peep- 
ing through the large key-hole we can see that there is 
nothing within save the bare walls, and a wall partition 
which seems to extend half-way up, with a door at one 
end. 

Mr. Carne, who visited this tomb, records his reflec- 
tions thereupon in language as follows : 

" I thought of Jacob's words in his last hour, when 
dwelling on the only indelible remembrance that earth 
seemed to claim from him. The long exile, the converse 
with the angels of God, the wealth and greatness which 
had gathered round him, all yield to the image of the 
loved and faithful wife — ' And as for me, Rachel died by 
me, in the way from Bethlehem, and I buried her there/ 

" The spot is as wild and solitary as can well be con- 
ceived ; no palms or cypresses give their shelter from the 
blast ; not a single tree spreads its shade where rest the 
ashes of the beautiful mother of Israel. Yet there is 
something in this sepulchre in the wilderness that excites 
a deeper interest than more splendid or revered ones. 
Other tombs the traveler looks at with careless indiffer- 
ence ; beside that of Rachel, his fancy wanders to ' the 
land of the people of the East ;' to the power of beauty, 
that could so long make banishment sweet ; to the de- 
voted companion of the wanderer, who deemed all 
troubles light for her sake. No one can stand by this 
spot without an earnest wish, and almost a conviction, 
that it is one of those about which tradition has not erred ; 
and whether this be Rachel's tomb or not, I could not 
but remark, that while youth and beauty have faded 



Over the Hills to Bethlehem. 139 



away, and the queens of the East have died and been 
forgotten, and Zenobia and Cleopatra sleep in unknown 
graves, year after year thousands of pilgrims are throng- 
ing to the supposed last resting-place of a poor Hebrew 
woman. 

" The Moslems have surrounded most of the burial- 
places of the chief characters of the Old Testament with 
more pomp and stately observance than this ; but the 
tribute they pay to Rachel's remains is far more sincere 
and impressive than walls of marble or gilded domes : 
the desire the Turks feel that their ashes may rest near 
hers is singular and extreme. All round this simple 
tomb lie thickly strewn the graves of the Moslems. A 
trait such as this speaks more for the character of this 
people than many volumes written in their praise ; for it 
cannot be for any greatness, or wisdom, or holiness, in 
her who sleeps beneath (for which qualities they show 
so much respect to the sepulchres of Abraham, of David, 
and of his son), but simply for the high domestic virtues 
and qualities which belonged to Rachel : she was a de- 
voted wife and an excellent mother, as well as the parent 
of a mighty people ; and for these things do the Turks 
venerate her memory. 

" It is a scene of no common interest when a funeral 
train issues from the gate of the city, and passes slowly 
over the plain of Rephaim to the lonely sepulchre. Were 
a Jew to cross the procession at this moment, he would 
be treated with deep scorn and hatred by the very people 
who are about to kneel round the ashes of one of his 
ancestry. Deeply fallen nation ! forbidden even to draw 
near or bow down at the place that is full of the remem- 
brance of its ancient greatness." 

But notwithstanding the scorn and contempt with 

which the Moslems thus treat the Jews, they will not be, 
12*- 



140 The Old World — Palestine. 



and cannot be, driven from venerating this tomb of 
Rachel, and visiting it in person as often as they can. 
We meet several of them at the tomb, and pass, on our 
way to Jerusalem, a number who have been there. In- 
deed, there is no one trait of the Jewish character more 
strongly marked than love of ancestry, and the attach- 
ment they have for the country once their own. All 
travelers in Palestine observe this, and several have writ- 
ten concerning it in terms at once truthful and beautiful. 

" Independently of that natural love of country," says 
Mr. Wilde, "which exists among this people, two objects 
bring the Jew to Jerusalem — to study the Scriptures and 
the Talmud, and then to die, and have his bones laid 
with his forefathers in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, even 
as the bones of the patriarchs were carried up out of 
Egypt. No matter what the station or the rank, no 
matter what or how far distant the country in which the 
Jew resides, he still lives upon the hope that he will one 
day journey Zionward. No clime can change, no condi- 
tion quench, that patriotic ardor with which the Jew 
beholds Jerusalem, even through the vista of a long 
futurity. On his first approach to the city, while yet 
within a day's journey, he puts on his best apparel ; and 
when the first view of it bursts upon his sight, he rends 
his garments, falls down to weep and pray over the long- 
sought object of his pilgrimage ; and with the dust 
sprinkled on his head he enters the city of his fore- 
fathers. No child ever returned home, after long absence, 
with more yearnings of affection ; no proud baron ever 
beheld his ancestral tower and lordly halls, when they 
had become another's, with greater sorrow than wrings 
the heart of the poor Jew when he first beholds Jerusa- 
lem. This, at least, is patriotism." 

" It is curious," says Milman, " after surveying this 



Over the Hills to Bethlehem. 141 



almost total desertion of Palestine, to read the indications 
of fond attachment to its very air and soil scattered about in 
the Jewish writings ; still, it is said, that man is esteemed 
most blessed who even after his death shall reach the 
land of Palestine, and be buried there, or even shall have 
his ashes sprinkled by a handful of its sacred dust. ' The 
air of the land of Israel,' says one, ' makes a man wise ;' 
another writes, " He who walks four cubits in the land> 
of Israel is sure of being a son of the life to come.' ' The 
great Wise Men are wont to kiss the borders of the Holy 
Land, to embrace its ruins, and roll themselves in its 
dust.' 4 The sins of all those are forgiven who inhabit 
the land of Israel.' He who is buried there is reconciled 
with God, as though he were buried under the altar. # The 
dead buried in the land of Canaan first come to life in the 
days of the Messiah." 

Of this tomb of Rachel the record simply says, "And 
Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, 
which is Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar upon her 
grave : that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day." 
Tradition has always marked this as the spot, nor do we 
see any reason to doubt it. 

From this point we gallop along as fast as possible, and 
having crossed the " Hill of Evil Counsel," and a well- 
cultivated valley — the only one of any extent near Jeru- 
salem — by ten o'clock we find ourselves at the Jaffa Gate, 
and a half hour after we are seated among the congrega- 
tion in the English church, where we have the pleasure 
of joining in the service and listening to a most excellent 
sermon from the Rt. Rev. Bishop Gobat. 

This church was established and is still maintained by 
the "London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst 
the Jews." The church building itself, located on Mount 
Zion, is of good size and well finished. It, together with 



142 The Old World — Palestine. 



other buildings devoted to a Hospital and Dispensary, 
House of Industry, Jewesses' Institution, Boys' School, 
Bible and General Book Depot, and Inquirers' Home, 
all belong to the Society. 

The Missionary Instructors consist of Rev. Dr. Gobat, 
Lord Bishop of Jerusalem, Rev. Dr. Barclay, Rev. E. B. 
Frankel, and Rev. W. Bailey, with two Lay Agents. 
The number of converts now residing in Jerusalem is 
about one hundred and fifty ; number baptized in 1865—6, 
nineteen. Services are held in Hebrew, Spanish, Ger- 
man, and English, and prayer-meetings on Tuesday and 
Friday of each week. 

The Sabbath-morning services (in English) are largely 
attended. This morning every seat is filled, and the 
service is of the most solemn and impressive character. 
" Pray for the peace of Jerusalem : they shall prosper 
that love thee." 



CHAPTER VII. 



NORTHWARD THROUGH SAMARIA. 

AFTER our return from the Jordan and the Dead 
Sea, we spend nearly four more days in Jerusalem, 
but as these are spent the same as the previous ones have 
been, viz. : in sight-seeing, and as in previous chapters we 
have given a pretty full description of the " sights" in and 
about the Holy City, we shall not detain our readers with 
any further account now. * 

On the afternoon of Wednesday ( April 3d) we leave 
Jerusalem for a tour through Northern Palestine. In 
about one hour from the time we leave the Damascus 
Gate we reach the summit of Mount Scopus, where we 
stop for a few moments to take one last, long, lingering 
look at the Holy City ; for, though we were greatly 
disappointed in our first view of it, and though all 
our subsequent examinations have been accompanied 
with a feeling of sadness akin to disappointment, still 
we cannot turn our back upon it without a feeling of 
regret. 

Like as one may say of his own country, "With all 
thy faults I love thee still," so we may say of Jerusalem. 
Its whole history is so connected with the biblical record 
that one cannot examine it without feeling that he is 
reading anew the pages of Holy Writ ; that he is seeing 

143 



144 The Old World — Palestine. 



what King David saw, and something of what King 
Solomon did ; that he is treading, it ma}^ be, in the very 
footsteps of Jesus — where he lived, and moved, and 
wrought, and died, and had a resurrection ; that he is 
wandering over hills and through valleys, and possibly 
over the very paths, in which the apostles trod while they 
continued their labors of love, even among those who had 
rejected and crucified their Master ; that he is looking 
upon the very site, and possibly upon some of the very 
stones, of the city which, having been accursed of God 
because of its rejection of the Saviour, was subsequently 
overthrown and utterly trodden under foot by the victori- 
ous army of Titus ; and that he is treading the very streets 
and looking upon walls once trod and defended by the 
Crusaders, who, to rescue the cross from the hands of in- 
fidels, were willing to sacrifice the comforts of home and 
friends, and even life itself if necessary ! 

With thoughts like these passing through our mind, 
can you wonder that we leave Jerusalem with regret, and 
that our last look is long and lingering, notwithstanding 
the disappointment and sadness we have experienced in 
seeing and examining it? 

In about two hours from the time of leaving the summit 
of Mount Scopus we reach El-Bir, the ancient Beeroth, 
one of the cities of the Gibeonites. However much of a 
city it may have been in ancient days, at present it is only 
a miserable stone-wall village, with nothing attractive 
about it, save a fine fountain near by, at which we stop 
for a few moments to water our horses and refresh our- 
selves. 

Mr. Skinner's experience, while halting at this place, 
gives us an insight into the manners and customs of the 
modern Syrians which cannot be better learned from any 
other source ; and as he has told it in a very pleasant and 



Northward through Samaria. 145 

amusing manner, we cannot do better than copy his ac- 
count verbatim. He says : 

" We finished our day's journey about a mile eastward 
of Ram Allah, and stopped an hour before sunset at the 
entrance of the village of El-Bir, so called from a clear 
fountain at the foot of the hill on which the houses stand. 
It is probably the Beeroth of Scripture, and not Mich- 
mash, as usually supposed. We took possession of a 
ruined arch that serves as a khan, and stands among 
many at the bottom of the town. It is open at both ends, 
and the wind blew through it, while the rain drizzled 
from the broken roof. We swept the floor, and spread- 
ing our carpets upon it, placed the cattle against the 
upper entrance, while the villagers crouched in the mouth 
of the other. Thus with a blazing log of wood, which 
we soon arranged, all promised very well, when the 
colonel, who thought his dignity compromised by this 
humble retreat, sent his interpreter to trumpet our arrival 
through the village, and obtain, if possible, a house. 

" I have a horror of such civilities as the Arabs of a 
village are able to afford, and could not sympathize with 
the Frenchman in his joy at the discovery of a building 
for our accommodation. We would not divide our for- 
tunes, however, and followed Monsieur Souf through the 
miserable streets to the highest point of the hill, where, 
exposed to the full violence of the wind, we found a 
solitary house, close to the remains of a large church 
which was built by the Empress Helena over the spot 
where tradition says the Virgin Mary sat while, having 
missed our Saviour, after a day's journey, Joseph sought 
him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance before they 
returned to Jerusalem. 

" These ruins were walled round, and our cattle occu- 
pied such shelter as they gave. As we came on foot 



146 The Old World — Palestine. 



through the streets, leading our horses, the gentle dames 
of the village levied a tax upon our property in a very- 
ingenious manner, by pulling the bedding, which hung 
loose over the saddles, into their huts. Anticipating a 
clamor when we should make the discovery, they took 
their husbands into their confidence, who acted their parts 
most admirably. 

" When we reached the airy castle we were to possess 
for the night, lo ! our beds were gone. Hassan made an 
oration upon their inhospitality to the men who sur- 
rounded us. They affected to be shocked, and hoped we 
did not think it possible that they could have encouraged 
so scandalous an act. ' You shall have your property/ 
they all cried, ' but will you not reward us?' They were 
promised a reward, and in a short time returned with the 
stolen blankets ; then, telling the story, laughed at the 
success of the stratagem. 

" The door of the khan was so low that we were forced 
to crouch to pass through it. The room was full of 
smoke ; so dark and so close that I fancied we had sunk 
into the infernal regions. ' Open the window, if there be 
one !' we all exclaimed, and one of the party pushed a 
wooden shutter that let in a glimmer of day at the top of 
the wall, when a loud shout of "Wullah ! what dogs are 
these ?' burst from the centre of the chamber as the light 
rushed into it, where, round a deep hole wherein lay a 
log from which all the smoke proceeded, about thirty 
men were seen squatted in a circle, smoking, and wrapped 
up in their large cloaks. They were like owls disturbed 
in their favorite darkness, and floundered and flapped 
about in a most ungentle humor. They insisted upon 
closing all up again, and we for a while submitted. 

" ' There is a mat in the corner ; sit down there ; take 
off your shoes, and thank God that you are allowed to 



Northward through Samaria. 147 



come in at all,' cried a fellow bearded like the Saracen's 
Head upon a sign-post, with a large knife at his girdle, 
' What brings you here ?' ' Our own business,' replied 
our interpreter ; ' and we wish to have as much room as 
possible, so you had better be gone and leave us to our- 
selves.' This modest request was near bringing affairs 
to a crisis with a vengeance. ' Off with your shoes, un- 
believers !' exclaimed a little shriveled Arab, with the 
most intolerant expression of countenance I ever saw. 
4 Out with them, in the name of God !' shouted another ; 
while ' Wullah, Yullah,' and all the different variations 
and invocations of the name of Allah, escaped from the 
lips of the crowd. 

" We drew up into a corner and stood firm ; the sailor 
half drew his sword, we handled our pistols, and the 
French colonel began to chatter a mixture of languages 
that promised to perplex the matter as much as words 
could do for us. Monsieur Souf, who was of a peaceable 
turn of mind, kept aloof ; while Hassan whispered to me, 
• Fa niente, signore — don't fight.' 

" The colonel's address had rather a composing effect, al- 
though I believe not one word of it was understood. When 
it was over the men sank down to their sitting posture, 
and allowed the window to be opened, that they might 
contemplate us at their leisure. We were by this time 
all in tears from the pain of the smoke in our eyes. I 
was forced to bandage mine with my handkerchief, and 
peeped from under it every now and then at the group. 
They eyed us very minutely, and in a low tone among 
themselves discussed our appearance, which was not un- 
like that of a party of children crying at being kept in 
the corner. I hope this notion did not occur to the Arabs, 
for the Franks will scarcely be elevated in their judg- 
ments from our visit among them, if it did. 
13 



148 The Old World— Palestine. 



"As we could neither get rid of the smoke nor enjoy the 
air while the crowd remained, we again proposed their 
departure, when the calm at once grew into a worse tem- 
pest than the first. Up they sprang, and cursed us most 
dismally, repeating constantly, ' Wonderful ! Are we not 
men ? They come here to beard us in our own dens !' 
A loud clatter at the door, which was not calculated to 
resist much, broke it from its hinges, and in poured a 
fresh supply of people from the village, screaming out, 
' Bucksheesh, bucksheesh !' The wind and the rain, too, 
drove in upon us, and the sparks from the fire in the 
centre flew about the room. The adventures in Don 
Quixote's inn were nothing to those promised to us. We 
gathered together, and stood in front of our baggage piled 
up in a corner, and resisted by pushing and pulling every 
attempt to approach it. 4 Out with the dogs ! Down 
with the infidels !' and such agreeable expressions, rang 
through the multitude. There was now no space to 
move, and we stood at bay ; one hand holding a handker- 
chief to our eyes, while with the other we used what de- 
fence we could to keep our ground. 

"We had not yet come regularly to blows, and were 
all anxious to avoid them. We were nevertheless in full 
expectation of a furious struggle every moment, when an 
old man, who had been conversing with M. Souf, called 
out, ' Silence, my children, and let us hear them speak !' 
The colonel, who had just whispered to me, ' I wish we 
had one of his highness' six-pounders here,' advanced 
with his drawn sword into the centre, and commenced an 
oration, but in such an outrageous passion that no two 
words could be connected together. ' Choich, choich — 
gentle, gentle,' was all that we could say to control the 
impatience of his hearers, which I repeated till my throat 
was as dry as possible. 



Northward through Samaria. 149 

" At length a most fortunate scheme struck the inter- 
preter, who cried out in Arabic to the principal man, 
4 What is your name?' ' Abd-ul-Kerim,' said he. ' Then 
write it down, I pray you,' continued the interpreter, turn- 
ing to the colonel, ' that Ibrahim Pasha may know how 
his chief engineer has been received while traveling on 
his service.' 

"This speech fell like a thunderbolt among them. The 
colonel sheathed his sword and drew out his note-book ; 
I presented him a pencil, and we all gathered round to 
assist in making the muster-roll. It was not necessary, 
however ; the threat was enough, and one by one the 
crowd began to drop away, till the head man alone re- 
mained, who assured us that all that had occurred was 
meant most civilly ; that while the women were making 
bread, the men usually came up here to smoke, for their 
wives shut the doors upon them until the sun sets. 

" We could not fasten the door during the night, and 
kept watch alternately by the large fire which the head 
man of the village, to make amends for our uncourteous 
reception, supplied most bountifully with fuel from the 
shrubs around, for wood is scarcely to be seen. Occa- 
sional attempts were made by the villagers to enter our 
resting-place, but we firmly resisted them. The necessity 
of combating these attacks, and the still more tantalizing 
one of the numerous insects in the place, prevented the 
possibility of sleeping. We were glad to be up when the 
day broke, and escape from so uncomfortable a confine- 
ment." 

The hills hereabout — and, indeed, generally throughout 
Palestine — are treeless and shrubless, though we have fre- 
quently remarked to Lily, while riding along, that they 
must have been thickly wooded some day, and now, while 
reading of this ancient city and its people in the ninth 



The Old World— Palestine. 



chapter of Joshua, we are confirmed in this belief, for 
there it is recorded that as a punishment for the decep- 
tion which the Gibeonites had practised upon Joshua and 
the princes of Israel, they (the Gibeonites) were con- 
demned to be the "hewers of wood and drawers of water 
for the congregation," and why should they have been 
condemned as " hewers of wood," if then, as now, there 
was no wood to hew? The fact, no doubt, is, that in the 
days of the ancient Israelites the hills and mountains of 
Judea, now so barren, were thickly wooded ; but there 
being no coal or other combustibles in the country, save 
wood alone, the use of it for fuel and building purposes, 
during thousands of years, has caused the hewing down 
of almost every tree from off these hills, except olives 
and other fruit-bearing species. 

To such extremities are the natives of these regions 
now reduced for securing fuel, that they cut down, or 
rather dig up by the roots, every twig and shrub growing 
on the mountain side, and not unfrequently have we met 
dozens of young girls carrying bundles of these twigs on 
their heads from the mountains to the villages. Not only 
so, but they dig up for fuel the small thorn bushes grow- 
ing upon abandoned fields, and, to add still farther to 
their stores, they gather horse manure from the roads 
and wherever else they can find it, which, after drying in 
the sun, they use as fuel. It is curious to observe a 
family's " wood-pile" consisting of small brush or twigs 
piled on the house-top, and a heap of sun-dried manure 
cakes beside the door, and yet such sights are common in 
all the villages of Lower Palestine. In Middle and 
Upper Palestine trees are much oftener met with, though 
even here fuel is very scarce, and twigs and dried manure 
are extensively used. 

From El-Bir we go direct to Bethel, occupying about 



Northward through Samaria. 151 



two hours, traveling over a very stony, rough path. Here 
we find our tents pitched, in company with those of two 
other American parties, with whom we exchange civil- 
ities, and then look around to see if there are any ruins of 
ancient Bethel, but none are to be found except some 
large Arab ruins, the stones of which may have been of 
more ancient buildings. 

The Bible record says i; the name of Bethel was called 
Luz at the first.'' from which it mav be inferred that a city 
stood upon this spot in the days of Jacob, but at present 
a small Syrian village is all that marks the place. The 
natives, however, call the Arab ruins hereabouts Bourg 
Bethel. 

The only interest in this spot is. that it was here that 
Jacob ; * dreamed, and beheld a ladder set up on the 
earth, and the top of it reached to heaven ; and he beheld 
the angels of God ascending and descending upon it ;" 
and then followed the promises which God made to 
Jacob, and the account of his rising up early in the morn- 
ing, and taking the stone which he had put as a pillow, 
and setting it up as an altar to the Lord. 

Lily, following the example of Jacob, has one of the 
servants bring in a large stone and place it under her 
pillow — or rather, under the head of the iron bedstead on 
which she sleeps — but whether she. too, saw a vision of 
angels, or slept more soundly because of it. we have not 
been able to ascertain. Because we laughed at her for 
doing it, she refuses to tell us anything of her dreams last 
night. 

Early in the morning we leave Bethel for Nablous, 
passing on our way a number of interesting places. 

The first we stop to examine are the ruins of the 

Mosque of Settein. a square stone building. Over the 

doorwav of this is an urn between two wreaths, and 
13**' 



152 The Old World — Palestine. 



within lie the broken pieces of three Corinthian columns. 
The former use of this building is not definitely known, 
but from its general appearance we should judge it to 
have been used for sepulchral purposes. 

Near this, on the slope of a hill opposite, is the site of 
the ancient Shiloh. We were about to write ruins instead 
of site, but the fact is that no ruins of Shiloh remain, 
unless we count as such the stones of former buildings, 
lying in great quantity all over the hillside. The walls 
of one old, square stone building remain standing, but 
the arched doorways and general style of architecture 
show it to have been of Roman origin. 

There are numerous tombs in the mountain-sides here- 
abouts, now all empty and in ruins, which, with other 
evidences, prove it to have once been a place or city of 
considerable size ; and that this is the identical site of 
ancient Shiloh there cannot, we think, be any doubt, 
since it so accurately agrees with the location as given 
in the last chapter of Judges, and tradition points out no 
other. 

It was here that the children of Benjamin were com- 
manded to " Go and lie in wait in the vineyards ; and 
see, and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to 
dance in dances ; then come ye out of the vineyards, and 
catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, 
and go to the land of Benjamin." 

This was certainly a novel way of getting wives ; but, 
under the circumstances it seemed to be the only chance 
left for the poor Benjaminites. We doubt if there is a 
single woman hereabouts now whom even a Benjaminite 
would care to catch. 

Leaving Shiloh, we pass Khan Luban ; the village of 
Luban (ancient Lebonah) ; the village of Sawieh ; and 
after a tedious ascent of a high ridge, we look down upon 



Northward through Samaria. 153 



a long and broad valley coming down from Galilee, and 
far beyond it we see the snowy summit of Mount Her- 
mon, grand and glorious ! This is our first but not our 
last sight of Hermon. 

A long ride up this valley, over a comparatively good 
road, brings us to Jacob's Well, at which we stop to make 
examinations. It is located near the junction of this 
valley with another coming down from Nablous, and not 
far from the base of Mount Gerizim. The ruins of a 
heavy wall still surround it, and to reach the mouth of the 
well we descend, into an arched vault, of probably ten 
feet in diameter. We have no line to measure its depth, 
but by dropping a few small pebbles into it, and marking 
the time which it takes before they strike the water, we 
readily determine that the well is very deep, and contains 
considerable water. We had hoped to have a drink from 
this well, but having no line with which to let down a 
cup, we are compelled to forego the pleasure. 

This, then, is the parcel of ground which Jacob gave 
to his son Joseph ; this is the well that Jacob dug, and this 
the well at which Jesus sat and conversed with the woman 
of Samaria. 

"Jesus saith unto her, give me to drink. 

" Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is 
it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a 
woman of Samaria ; for the Jews have no dealings with 
the Samaritans? 

"Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the 
gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to 
drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would 
have given thee living water." 

This is indeed holy ground — sanctified by the footsteps 
of Jesus, and not less so by the great lesson which he here 
taught, not to the woman of Samaria only, but to all man- 



154 The Old World — Palestine. 



kind, that " God is a spirit ; and they that worship him 
must worship him in spirit and in truth." 

Stephens, in writing of this region and this well, says : 
" We were now entering the region of Samaria, and 
though the mountains were yet stony, a beautiful country 
was opening before us. Our ride lay principally along 
the edge of a wide valley, well watered and gloriously fer- 
tile. The green expanse of the wheat-fields was refresh- 
ing to an eye accustomed for some time to the glare of the 
streets and surrounding rocks of Jerusalem. We passed 
several villages, among which I remember was that of 
Cowara, beautifully situated on the side of the mountain, 
overlooking a fertile valley, and all the women of the vil- 
lage were in the field picking the tares from the grain. 
Here I took a guide to conduct me to the Patriarch's well, 
where our Saviour talked with the Samaritan woman. 

" In about two hours we were winding along the side 
of Mount Gerizim, whose summit was covered with the 
white dome of a sheikh's tomb ; and passing on the de- 
clivity of the mountain going down to the valley at its base, 
we came to Jacob's well, or the Beer Samarea of the Arabs, 
distant rather more than a mile from the eastern gate of 
Nablous. It bears evident marks of antiquity, but was 
now dry and deserted ; it was said usually to contain living 
water, and not merely to be filled by the rains. We had 
no line with us at the moment to measure the well ; but 
by dropping in stones we could perceive that it was deep 
(John iv. n), a thing very unusual in Palestine, where 
the water is generally preserved in superficial cisterns, 
from which it issues in a fountain ; or else a few stairs are 
placed for descending into it. The depth, as measured by 
Maundrell and recently by Homes, is about 105 feet." 

" I think," says Dr. Robinson, "we may rest with con- 
fidence in the opinion that this is Jacob's well, and here 



Northward through Samaria. 155. 

the parcel of ground which Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 
Here the Saviour, wearied with his journey, sat beside the 
well, and taught the poor Samaritan woman those great 
truths which have broken down the separating wall be- 
tween Jews and Gentiles : ' God is a Spirit, and they that 
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.' " 

Only a little way from Jacob's well is the site of the 
tomb of Joseph, now covered over with a small Moham- 
medan wely. We ride over to examine this, and, when 
within the enclosure, we notice a curiously-shaped tomb 
near the centre, with Hebrew inscriptions on the side walls. 
In one corner of the enclosure somebody has planted a 
grape-vine, which reaches up and over the wall, and which 
to our eye is both typical and beautiful. 

There are some who say that the tomb of Joseph is in 
the mosque at Hebron ; but since seeing this spot and its 
surroundings, and considering the arguments pro and con, 
we are satisfied that this is the parcel of ground which 
Jacob bought from the father of Shechem, and gave as a 
special inheritance to his son Joseph ; and that just here, 
and nowhere else, the children of Israel laid the bones of 
Joseph, which they brought up out of Egypt. 

From the tomb, our route lies up the Valley of Nablous, 
with Mount Gerizim on the one side and Mount Ebal on 
the other. The plain is not wide, and the two mounts 
rise beautifully from the valley and face each other. Their 
slopes are within calling distance, and at one time they 
presented a scene in Israelitish history grand and won- 
derful. 

Moses doubtless saw these mountains from the summit 
of Pisgah, when he directed that when the Israelites were 
brought in the land of promise they should "put the bless- 
ing upon Mount Gerizim and the curse upon Mount Ebal." 

And now, as we look upon these two mounts, and pic- 



156 The Old World— Palestine. 



ture the scene then presented, of a portion of the tribes 
upon the slope of the one mount and a portion on the other, 
we can hear (in imagination) the Levites calling out : 
" Cursed is the man that maketh any graven image, an 
abomination unto the Lord, the work of the hands of the 
craftsmen, and putteth into a secret place." 

And then from the tribes on the opposite mount the 
loud response, "Amen!" 

"Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his 
mother." 

And the loud response from the other mount, "Amen !" 
" Cursed be he who removeth his neighbor's landmark." 
And the loud response, "Amen !" 

" Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of 
the way." 

And the loud response, "Amen!" 

" Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the 
stranger, fatherless and widow." 
And the loud response, "Amen !" 

Fearful were the cursings, benign the blessings ; and 
who dare say that they are not as applicable to the present 
generation as to those who uttered them ? 

In a little while we reach Nablous and pitch our tents 
on its western border, amidst the tents of fourteen other 
Americans and four Englishmen — all, like ourselves, tra- 
velers and sight-seers in Palestine. 

This town of Nablous (anciently Neapoli) is of very 
ancient date, its history being traceable for some four thou- 
sand years. It was here, or near here, that Abraham first 
pitched his tent in the land of Canaan ; it was the inhabit- 
ants of this city who suffered such terrible punishment at 
the hands of Simeon and Levi (sons of Jacob) for dishon- 
oring their sister Dinah ; and it was here that Rehoboam 
was declared king over all Israel. 



Northward through Samaria. 157 



Stephens, who traveled over this same route, says : 
"Turning the point of the mountain, we came to a rich 
valley lying between the mountains of Gerizim and Ebal. 
Crossing this valley, on the sides of the mountain of Ebal 
is a long range of grottoes and tombs, and a little before 
coming to them, in a large white building like a sheikh's 
tomb, is the sepulchre of Joseph. I dismounted and entered 
the building, and it is not an uninteresting fact that I found 
there a white-bearded Israelite, kneeling at the tomb of 
the patriarch, and teaching a rosy-cheeked boy (his de- 
scendant of the fourth generation) the beautiful story of 
Joseph and his brethren. 

" It was late in the evening when I was moving up the 
valley of Nablous. The mountains of Gerizim and Ebal, 
the mountains of blessings and curses, were towering like 
lofty walls on either side of me. A beautiful stream, in 
two or three places filling large reservoirs, was running 
through the valley, and a shepherd sat on its bank playing 
a reed pipe, with his flock feeding quietly around him. 
The shades of evening were gathering fast as I approached 
the town of Nablous, the Shechem or Sychem of the Old 
Testament, and the Sychar of the New. More than a 
dozen lepers were sitting outside the gate, their faces shin- 
ing, pimpled and bloated, covered with sores and pustules, 
their nostrils open and filled with ulcers, and their red eyes 
fixed and staring ; with swollen feet they dragged their 
disgusting bodies toward me, and with hoarse voices ex- 
tended their deformed and hideous hands for charity." 

The town of Nablous is at present a miserably dirty 
place of about six thousand inhabitants, consisting mostly 
of Mohammedans. Its streets are execrable, as we have 
reason to know from nearly breaking our neck while pass- 
ing over them on horseback when searching for the Samar- 
itan synagogue ; and its inhabitants are exceedingly hos- 



158 The Old World— Palestine. 



tile to Christians, as we have further reason to know from 
seeing a boy throw a stone at Lily while quietly riding 
along on horseback, and for the catching of which boy we 
offered another boy a dollar, that we might give him such 
a flogging as would teach him for all time to come to 
respect the rights of travelers. 

The valley in which this town is located is one of great 
beauty and fertility, and being so near another large valley, 
it must in times past have been a place of considerable 
trade and importance. 

Early next morning we commence the ascent of Mount 
Gerizim, which is by no means an easy task. The path 
from Nablous is so steep and stony that no other than a 
Syrian horse could ever go up it. In the day of its great 
glory, when a magnificent temple crowned its summit and 
thousands went up to worship on this mountain, there 
must certainly have been a better road or path. 

Dr. Robinson ascended Mount Gerizim under the 
guidance of one of the younger Samaritans, an honest, 
simple-minded man. When about two-thirds of the way 
up, they heard, he says, a woman calling after them, who 
proved to be the mother of the Samaritan guide. He 
was her only son, and had come away, it seems, without 
her knowledge ; and she was now in the utmost terror at 
finding that he had gone off as a guide to Franks, to show 
them the holy mountain. She had immediately followed 
the party, and was now crying after them with all the 
strength of her lungs, forbidding him to proceed lest 
some evil should befall him. The young man went back 
to meet her, and tried to pacify her, but in vain ; she in- 
sisted upon his returning home. This he was not in- 
clined to do, though, he said, he could not disobey his 
mother, and so transgress the law of Moses. This 
touching trait gave the travelers a favorable idea of the 



Northward through Samaria. 159 



morality of the Samaritans. After reasoning with her a 
long time without effect, he finally persuaded her to go 
with them. So she followed the strangers up the moun- 
tain ; at first full of wrath, and keeping at a distance 
from them ; yet, at last, she became quite reconciled and 
communicative. 

Twenty minutes of ascent in the direction south-west 
from the city leads the traveler to the top of Gerizim, a 
tract of high table land, stretching off far to the west and 
south-west, and covered with rich herbage and wild 
flowers. Twenty minutes more toward the south-east, 
along a regular path upon the table land, brings him to 
the holy place of the Samaritans, which is still some dis- 
tance from that shown as Joshua's altar. The ground 
here is rather depressed to a centre, so that a larger as- 
semblage than the Samaritans can now muster might con- 
veniently witness the sacred rites as from an amphitheatre. 
A few stones formed into an altar, and a paved trench to 
carry off the victim's blood, are all the tokens of the 
place and its purposes. A little farther on the extreme 
and most elevated summit which overlooks the valley 
are some very extensive remains of a Roman fortress, 
with large tanks and much masonry of massive and 
regular construction. 

Just under the walls of the castle, on the west side, 
are a few flat stones, of which it is difficult to say whether 
they were laid there by nature or by man. Under these 
are -laid, as they allege, the twelve stones brought from 
Jordan by the Israelites ; and there they will remain till 
the Muhdy ( the Messiah) shall appear. 

Beyond the castle, toward the south, is the alleged 
altar of Joshua, the holiest spot, where the Samaritan 
guide reverently takes off his shoes. It is the kibleh of 
that people. On whatever side of it they may be, they 

14 



160 The Old World — Palestine. 



always turn their faces toward it in prayer ; but when 
upon the spot itself, it is lawful for them to pray in any 
direction. Round it are slight traces of former walls, 
possibly those of the ancient temple. The spot itself is a 
sort of table, level with the surrounding ground, and at 
first sight appearing to be nothing more than the natural 
face of the rock from which the surface soil has been re- 
moved, and divided into compartments by natural acci- 
dents of fracture and fissure. Such Lord Francis Egerton 
at first considered it, but on closer inspection he was in- 
duced to adopt the opinion that it was artificial. " It 
slopes," his lordship says, " at an angle fully sufficient 
for the sacrificial purpose of allowing blood to drain off 
toward the cavernous mouth of a deep well. Of these 
wells there are several near, and in two, at least, of them 
I thought I perceived that the stones of the orifice had 
been arranged artificially, and if so, with consummate 
skill, and to be, in fact, specimens of that kind of archi- 
tecture best known by the term of cyclopean — stones, 
namely, unhewn, but fitted to one another with a felicity 
which, on a small scale, is often exhibited by the dyke- 
builders of Scotland. Now, Joshua was directed to 
build his altar of whole stones, untouched by iron tool ; 
and, on looking at the altar itself, and comparing it with 
the wells in the neighborhood, I was much inclined to 
the opinion that all were of the same construction, and 
of one which would answer this description." 

Near the same place the Samaritans show an altar as 
that on which Abraham was commanded to offer up 
Isaac ; and further south, and, indeed, all round upon 
this eminence, are extensive foundations, apparently of 
dwellings, as if the ruins of a former city. 

On the summit we find a small encampment of Sa- 
maritans, who are here to celebrate their annual passover, 



Northward through Samaria. 161 



and a little farther on we find the ruins of their once 
magnificent temple. 

Around the ruins of the temple proper are very thick 
walls, with a tower at each corner, which were probably 
erected and used for defensive purposes, and outside of 
these walls are the foundation-stones of many other 
buildings. 

Recent excavations by Capt. Wilson, of England, show 
the temple to have been of great beauty, both as to archi- 
tecture and the use of materials. The bases and caps of 
beautiful columns have been found, and the stones, even 
of the foundation walls, are carefully cut. The view 
from the summit is grandly beautiful. 

No people, perhaps, ever committed so many crimes, 
or endured so many reverses and persecutions in defence of 
their religion and its ancient usages, as the Samaritans ; 
and, though there be little to commend in their annals, 
who can contemplate unmoved the lingering death of an 
ancient people, now dwindled to a mere handful, but still 
clinging with a love stronger than death to the memory 
and laws of their fathers ? Only about twenty families 
now remain of this once numerous people. " I was pre- 
sented," says Mr. Farren, then British Consul-General 
in Syria, " in acknowledgment of some little service I 
rendered them, w T ith a copy of a letter addressed to them 
about two hundred years ago from a body of Samaritans 
in India (of whom they have no other trace), beseeching 
to know the fate of their brethren in Samaria ; and when 
at Sychem and passing at sunset near their tombs, which 
lay upon a sterile bank within a wild recess at the foot 
of Gerizim, two Samaritan women, who were seated 
there and seemed mournfully to be numbering the graves 
into which the remnant of their ancient race was fast de- 
clining, broke their silence as I approached, and, in ac- 



l62 



The Old World — Palestine. 



cents of deep feeling, implored me, if I knew where any 
of their people were now scattered, to tell them that their 
few remaining brethren, who still dwelt in the land of 
their forefathers, besought them to return and close the 
exhausted record of their fate with kindred sympathies 
and rites." 

Much curiosity has existed among the learned, both in 
this country and in Europe, with regard to this singular 
people, and several most eminent men of their day, in- 
cluding Scaliger and De Sacy, have had correspondence 
with them, but without any satisfactory result. The de- 
scendants of the Israelites who remained and were not 
carried into captivity, on the rebuilding of the second 
temple were denied the privilege of sharing the labor and 
expense of its reconstruction at Jerusalem ; and in morti- 
fication and revenge they built a temple on Mount Geri- 
zim with the permission of Alexander the Great ; and 
ever since a deadly hatred has existed between their 
descendants, the Samaritans, and the Jews. Gibbon, 
speaking of them in the time of Justinian, says, " The 
Samaritans of Palestine were a motley race, an ambiguous 
sect, rejected as Jews by the Pagans, by the Jews as 
schismatics, and by the Christians as idolaters. The 
abomination of the cross had been already planted on 
their holy Mount of Gerizim, but the persecution of Jus- 
tinian offered only the alternative of baptism or rebellion. 
They chose the latter ; under the standard of a desperate 
leader they rose in arms and retaliated their wrongs on 
the lives, the property, and the temples of a defenceless 
people. The Samaritans were finally subdued by the 
regular forces of the East; twenty thousand were slain, 
twenty thousand were sold by the Arabs to the infidels of 
Persia and India, and the remains of that unhappy nation 
atoned for the crime of treason by the sin of hypocrisy." 



Northward through Samaria. 163 

They pretended to embrace Christianity in the year 551, 
as the only means of recovering a few trifling privileges. 
Soon after that period they disappear from the historian's 
view ; crushed down without the power of resistance 
under the heavy yoke of the Moslems, their number has 
ever since continued to decrease. 

The Syrians tell many marvelous tales about the 
isolated and mysterious Samaritans : they assert that the 
number of heads of families among them is invariably 
forty, and can neither augment nor diminish, being irre- 
vocably fixed by the demons, who are the protectors of 
the race. Setting aside all such fables, the following is 
an abstract of what appears best authenticated respecting 
this people. 

They intermarry only with each other, never stray 
beyond, their mountain, and hold no familiar intercourse 
with their neighbors of a different creed. Cut off from 
the whole world, ages pass over their heads, leaving them 
unchanged in all but numbers. 

Their synagogue is a small, plain arched room, with a 
curtained recess on the left hand as you enter, wherein 
they keep their manuscripts, of which they profess to 
have about a hundred : one of these, a copy of the Pen- 
tateuch, they allege to be three thousand four hundred 
and sixty years old, having been transcribed by Abishua, 
the son of Phineas, and great-grandson of Aaron. They 
demand payment beforehand for showing this, and then 
produce an old roll, which, however, is not the right one. 
If the traveler is skilled enough in such matters to detect 
the fraud, the priest and his hopeful flock only laugh and 
bring out the other. " This," says Dr. Robinson, " was 
certainly very much worn, and somewhat tattered with 
much kissing, and here and there patched with shreds of 

parchment ; but the handwriting appeared to me very 
14* 



164 



The Old World — Palestine. 



similar to the former, and the vellum seemed, in like 
manner, not ancient." They regard the genuine manu- 
script, whatever that may be, as a palladium with which 
are bound up the lives and destinies of Samaritans ; but 
they are possessed, it is said, with a sad foreboding that 
the precious deposit will one day be wrested from them, 
and then will the days of the last of their race be num- 
bered. According to their account, their two families of 
priests are still of the stock of Aaron. Until recently 
these families had kept their blood pure from all alien 
mixture ; but in consequence of their continual diminu- 
tion, the males among them, now five in number, have 
been obliged to take wives from other houses. The place 
where they sacrifice [on ordinary occasions] is an altar 
of dry stone, erected behind their village, on an artificial 
mound, which serves them as a representative of the 
famous Mount Gerizim. They keep the passover in the 
manner of the ancient Hebrews. 

In child-birth the Samaritan woman remains shut up in 
her house for forty days, and no one is allowed to see her 
but the midwife or the nurse. Were any one else, even 
her husband, to see her during that time, the whole house 
would be rendered unclean, and it would be necessary to 
burn every article in it that was incapable of being puri- 
fied by fire or by running water. Her chamber is closely 
shut, and talismans are hung on the door to drive away 
the demon Leilat, a formidable being, ever on the watch 
to steal into the lying-in chamber, and cast a malignant 
spell upon the mother and her child. Above the talis- 
mans the name of Leilat is inscribed in large red letters, 
with an imprecation against the fiend ; for of all magic 
charms his own name is thought most potent to repel 
him. On the fortieth day the woman quits her prison, 
Leilat no longer having any power to molest her ; but it 



Northward through Samaria. 



it is not till twelve days after this that she performs her 
solemn ablutions, and a festival is held in the house to 
celebrate her readmission into the family circle. 

Like the Jews, the Samaritans carefullv avoid all con- 
tact with a dead bodv or with a tomb, lest they should be 
rendered unclean : they wash their whole bodies and 
change their raiment before presenting themselves at the 
altar for prayer or sacrifice. 

As a reason why the Samaritans never quit Nablous, 
the following incident is related : 

Some members of their community were accused be- 
fore the atrocious Djezzar, pasha of Acre, of having 
blasphemed the Mohammedan faith, by declaring that 
they alone, as possessing the true ancient religion of God, 
were entitled to Paradise. Djezzar instantly summoned 
the chief men of the Samaritans, who entered his presence 
with dismay. Leaning on his hatchet and surrounded 
with his cut-throats and executioners, he stared for a long 
while with the aspect of a tiger on the Samaritans, whose 
terrors he beheld with delight. " Filthy miscreants !" he 
cried at last, in a voice of thunder, " what is the exact 
number of your people? 5 ' ' ; A hundred and sixty," they 
replied, half dead with fear. "A hundred and sixty ! and 
Paradise is for you alone ! Well, then, sons of dogs, 
leave the earth to those against whom Paradise is barred, 
and go straight to heaven." Thereupon the pasha made 
a fatal gesture with his right hand, and the wretched men 
were hurried out for execution. But presently Djezzar 
appeared to change his mind. "Send those dogs back to 
their dens." he said: "and if a single one of them ever 
ventures to show himself beyond them, let him be killed 
like an unclean beast." He then, by way of commuting 
their punishment, increased the taxes paid by the Samari- 
tans six-fold, and saddled them with the cost of constructing 



1 66 The Old Woi'ld — Palestine. 



and maintaining a fountain at Kefr Nuohr, two leagues 
from Saffad, that, as he said, they might do some good in 
this world to those who were to be deprived of Paradise 
in the next. The Samaritans returned home, rejoiced at 
having got oft" so well from this interview with the fero- 
cious pasha, who, fortunately for them, happened on this 
day to be in unusually good-humor. " Ever since that 
day," say the oldest Samaritans, " none of us have gone 
into the plain, and we die without ever quitting the walls 
of our quarters." 

Djezzar Pasha has been many years dead, but the lesson 
still works, and the Samaritans keep close to home, 
dreading to expose themselves to the outrages of the rude 
Nablousian mountaineers. 




CHAPTER VIII. 

DESOLA TION AND BE A UTY. 

BEFORE leaving Nablous we go and see the Samari- 
tan synagogue, and the copy of the Books of Moses 
which the Samaritans have, and which is said to be the 
oldest in tne world. 

After coming down from Mount Gerizim, we enter the city 
gate, and after wending our way through dark and narrow 
streets, and under arches, some of which are so low that 
we have to dismount before going under them, we reach 
the door of the house, in the second story of which the 
synagogue is located. The room is rather small, with 
arched ceilings, and is furnished much after the style of 
Jewish synagogues. We ask to see the copy of the old 
Law, which they claim was written by Abishua, the son 
of Phineas, some three thousand five hundred years ago, 
and straightway the young men in attendance produce it. 
It is upon rollers, in the usual style of Hebrew manuscript 
copies of the Law, and certainly looks very ancient, though 
we doubt the antiquity which they give to it. Handing 
the young men some bucksheesh for their trouble in show- 
ing us the synagogue and manuscript, we remount, and 
after another difficult and hazardous passage through the 
street, we find our way out of the gate and to our camping- 
place, and from thence we proceed on our journey. 

167 



1 68 The Old World— Palestine. 



After about two hours' ride over a comparatively pleas- 
ant road, we reach the site of ancient Samaria— now called 
Sebustieh — where we find our tents pitched for another 
night's rest. 

The site of this ancient city is the long ridge of a loft}' 
hill, around and about which are extensive and beautiful 
valleys. The present village is of no account, but the 
ruins which remain of Samaria, and those of a more recent 
date, are quite extensive and of great interest. 

We first visit the ruins of the Church of St. John, which 
was erected by the Knights of St. John, over what they be- 
lieved to be the sepulchre of John the Baptist. The ruins 
show that the edifice was one of much beauty, though at 
present it is in a very dilapidated condition. To reach the 
reputed tomb of St. John we descend some fifteen feet 
below the floor of the church, and once here, we find a 
room of some twenty feet square, excavated in the rock, 
with recesses for burial-places. The heavy stone doer 
which was used to close the tomb is now unhinged and 
sits against the wall. 

Notwithstanding the almost universal belief that this is 
the identical burial-place of St. John the Baptist, Josephus 
relates expressly that John was beheaded in the castle of 
Machaerus, on the east of the Dead Sea ; and it is hardly 
probable that his disciples who " came and took up the 
body and buried it" (Matt. xiv. 12), first transported it all 
the way to Samaria. 

The eastern end of the church is rounded in the com- 
mon Greek style, and resting as it does on a precipitous 
elevation of nearly one hundred feet, it is, or rather has 
been, a noble and very striking monument. Common 
tradition, as in so many other cases, falsely ascribes this 
once magnificent church to the Empress Helena ; but the 
style of the architecture necessarily limits its antiquity to 



Desolation and Beauty. 



169 



the period of the Crusaders, though it is possible that a 
portion of the eastern end may be of earlier date. 

Xext we visit and examine what remain of the columns 
of the beautiful colonnade built in the time of Herod. This 
extended around, or nearly around, the hill, about one- 
third of the way clown, and must have been very grand 
and imposing. A large number of the columns — proba- 
blv one hundred — remain standing, or lie near where they 
once stood, and being surrounded by rough stone walls 
and cultivated fields, they look sadly strange. 

In a fig orchard, just above the present town, a number 
of beautiful columns remain standing, which probably be- 
longed to a temple ; not far from these columns the re- 
mains of fortifications may be seen, though of these but 
little remain. The remains of a great gateway may also 
be traced on the western side of the hill. 

The situation of the place, the careful terracing of the 
hill, the beautiful and once well-cultivated valleys which 
surround it. with the remains of ancient structures, fully 
prove it to have been a city of opulence and enterprise. 
But what a change ! How desolate and dreary, and God- 
forsaken even-thing about the town now appears. 

This was the hill which King Omri bought of Shermer 
for two talents of silver, and built thereon a city which he 
called Samaria : this was the city in which King Ahab 
was besieged, and where the people were reduced to such 
extremity that mothers boiled and ate their infant children 
for food ; this was the city in which the prophet Elisha 
predicted the deliverance in due time, and it came to 
pass as the man of God had spoken to the king here it 
was that the Assyrians again surrounded the walls, and 
after a lengthy siege, took the city ; and this was the gift 
which the Emperor Augustus bestowed upon his favorite 
Herod the Great, who rebuilt it in great splendor. 



170 The Old World — Palestine. 



" Sebustieh," says another traveler, "is the Arabic form 
of Sebaste, another foreign Greek appellation, which, since 
the days of Herod, has continued to usurp the place of the 
earlier name, Samaria. The neighborhood is quite a forest 
of truncated columns, bearing witness to Herod's magnifi- 
cence ; and it would be difficult to find in all Palestine a 
situation to equal, in strength, fertility and beauty com- 
bined, this site of the later capital of the Ten Tribes. In 
all these particulars it has greatly the advantage over Jeru- 
salem. The whole hill consists of fertile, cultivated soil ; 
on the summit is a broad level, apparently artificial, from 
which a view is obtained, extensive and beautiful almost be- 
yond comparison. All around is a noble valley, watered 
by murmuring streams, and covered by a rich carpet of 
grass sprinkled with wild flowers of every hue ; and be- 
yond, stretches like an open book before me, a boundary 
of fruitful mountains, with their deep, green ravines, and 
the fig, vine, olive and waving wheat rising in terraces to 
their very summits. I sat down on a broken column under 
the shade of a fig tree ; and near me a fellah was turning 
his plough round a column, the mute witness, perhaps, of 
the revels of Herod, ' his lords, and high captains, and 
chief estates of Galilee.' I asked the man what were the 
ruins we saw ; and while his oxen were quietly cropping 
the grass that grew among the fragments of the marble 
floor, he told me they were the palace of a king — he be- 
lieved of the Christians. What a comment on the vanity 
of worldly greatness ! While pilgrims from every quarter- 
of the world turn aside from their path to do homage in 
the supposed prison of Herod's victim, this Arab, who was 
driving his plough among the columns of his palace, knew 
not the proud monarch's name." 

On the high hill beyond Samaria we stop a while and 
have a magnificent view of the site of the former city, 



Desolation and Beauty. 



the valleys surrounding it, and Mounts Gerizim and Ebal 
in the distance ; and away off in the opposite direction 
hill after hill rises up in barren grandeur. Riding along 
through a succession of beautiful valleys, nearly all the 
way close to the banks of a running stream, with numer- 
ous villages in sight, we come to Sanur, seated on an in- 
sulated hill, commanding an extensive view of the country, 
and once a strongly fortified place, but now totally 
demolished. The notorious Djezzar, with five thousand, 
men, once ineffectually besieged the sheikh of this place 
for two months in his stronghold. More than thirty 
years afterward it was again invested by the late Abdallah 
Pasha of Acre, assisted by the troops of the Emir Beshir. 
It was taken after a siege of three or four months ; the 
insurgent inhabitants were put to the sword, and their 
houses burned and razed to the ground. The plain on 
the east of Sanur is a beautiful tract, oval or nearly round 
in form, three or four miles in diameter, and surrounded 
by low. picturesque hills. Having no issue for its waters, 
this plain becomes a lake in the wet season, whence it 
has received the name of Merj-el-Ghuruk, or Drowned 
Meadow. 

Passing Jerba on our left and Kufeir on our right, we 
ascend a slight rocky eminence, and reaching its top are 
suddenly gratified with a wide and glorious view extend- 
ing across the lower hills to the great p^dn of Esdraelon 
and the mountains of Nazareth beyond. The impression 
at first almost overpowers us. Just below us, on the left, 
is a lovely little basin or plain, a recess shut in among 
the mountains, and separated on the north from the great 
plain only by a slight ridge. We look eagerly for the 
round summit of Tabor, but it is not visible ; the moun- 
tain of Duhy, the Little Hermon, rises in desert naked- 
ness between, and shuts out Tabor wholly from the view. 

15 



172 



The Old World— Palestine. 



Further west the mountains rise boldly along the north 
side of the great plain, and the Mount of Precipitation is 
conspicuous, bearing north by east. 

We have now a considerable descent on the other side 
of the ridge ; we soon pass Kubatieh, a large village in 
the midst of very extensive and beautiful olive groves, 
and at about six o'clock we leave the beautiful country 
of Samaria and enter the little town of Jenin, stand- 
ing on the borders of Galilee, at the commencement 
of the great plain of Jezreel. This town, thtr Ginasa 
of Josephus, has usually passed for the site of ancient 
Jezreel, an error corrected by Dr. Robinson, who has 
identified the latter with Zerin, a small village about 
seven miles further north. 

Here we find our tents already pitched, and our drago- 
man and muleteers anxiously awaiting our arrival ; but 
as it is a pleasant afternoon and not yet sundown, before 
dismounting we ride into, through, and around the town, 
looking at and chatting with its inhabitants, and seeing 
whatever else is to be seen. With the exception, how- 
ever, of a passably good mosque, and a very fine fountain 
just within the town, we find nothing about it of special 
interest. 

The next day being the Sabbath, we decide to spend 
it as a day of rest in camp ; and having Rev. Dr. Burt, 
of Cincinnati, a^one of our company, a committee is ap- 
pointed to wait upon him and ask him to hold religious 
service in one of the tents. To this he consents, and at 
half-past ten o'clock about a dozen Americans and three 
Englishmen assemble in one of the tents, to worship the 
only living and true God. The prayers, the singing, and 
the discourse are all excellent and appropriate to time 
and place. 

While we are thus assembled for worship in the Holy 



Desolation and Beauty. 173 



Land at the usual hour for divine service in America, our 
friends at home are sleeping their soundest — it being 
about three o'clock in the morning by the time with them. 
We think of this, but it lessens not the pleasure of the 
service to us. God is everywhere, at all times, and is 
ever ready to hear the prayers of those who call upon 
him in sincerity and truth. 

Early on Monday morning we strike our tents, prepar- 
atory to a move forward ; but just as we are ready to 
start, a sudden and violent shower comes on, which forces 
us to take shelter in the tent of a neighbor for the time 
being ; and as our tents are wet and the ground thoroughly 
soaked, we afterward decide to occupy the upper room 
of an Arab house, in the village, for the balance of the 
day. This is a new experience, and, though bad enough, 
it is the better choice of evils. Showers continue, more 
or less, all the day, and we stick to our little Arab room 
and try to make the best of a bad predicament. 

The clouds look somewhat threatening next morning, 
but the air is soft and balmy, and we conclude to make a 
start for Nazareth. 

From the time of leaving Jenin we enter upon the 
great plain of Jezreel, which is a branch of the still 
greater valley of Esdraelon. Both of these plains are 
not only large in extent — the latter being no less than 
twenty miles from east to west, and about thirteen miles 
in breadth — but capable of the highest cultivation, though, 
at present, grass forms the principal product. When 
large cities, with immense populations, were scattered 
hereabouts, these plains were doubtless cultivated to the 
greatest possible extent, and must have yielded large 
crops. Now, not a fence, nor house, nor scarcely a tree, 
can be seen on all these broad and beautiful lands ; only 
here and there is seen a miserable Syrian village, whose 



174 The 0Id World— Palestine. 



inhabitants are the very impersonations of indolence, ig- 
norance, and poverty. 

While looking upon the desolation which is at present 
observable in almost every part of Palestine, some travel- 
ers have been led to doubt whether, indeed, the biblical 
and early profane historical records, as to the once great 
fruitfulness of this land, can be true. This thought, or 
doubt, impresses the mind painfully while traveling 
through Judea and the lower part of Samaria ; but as 
one comes northward, and especially after reaching the 
rich valleys, of which this of Esdraelon is one of the 
largest and richest, the doubt gradually vanishes, and even 
the most skeptical may believe that all which has been 
written of the fruitfulness of the land may be true. As 
to what it might be under a good government and with 
proper cultivation, there is much diversity of opinion ; and 
as upon this point we cannot better express our own 
views than by giving the views of another, we beg to 
quote the following from the excellent work of Rev. Dr. 
Olin : 

He says : " Having now traversed the Holy Land 
nearly in its length and breadth, I can form my own 
judgment of its soil, a subject on which, above all others 
connected with the country, I had found my previous 
information most defective. The statements which I had 
seen were contradictory and irreconcilable. My own 
experience leads me to regard it as quite certain that some 
portions of Palestine, once fertile, are now irreclaimable. 
The entire destruction of the wood that formerly covered 
the mountains, and the utter neglect of the terraces which 
supported the soil on steep declivities, have allowed the 
rains to lay bare many tracts of rock formerly clothed 
with vineyards and corn-fields. It is likely, too, that the 
disappearance of trees from the higher grounds, where 



Desolation and Beauty. 175 



they invited and arrested the passing clouds, may have 
diminished the quantity of rain, and so have exposed the 
whole country, in a greater degree, to the evils of drought, 
and doomed some particular tracts to absolute sterility. 
Except these, I do not recognize any permanent and 
invincible causes of barrenness, or any physical obstacles 
in the way of restoring this fine country to its pristine 
fertility. The soil of the whole country has certainly 
deteriorated under bad husbandry and the entire neglect 
of the means of improvement; but a small degree of 
skill and industry would be sufficient to reclaim it, as 
must be evident to every traveler who has observed the 
vineyards near Hebron and Bethlehem, and the gardens 
of Nablous. Except the tracts about the Dead Sea, 
which must always have been barren, the worst part of 
Palestine is now in the ' hill country' of Judah ; yet 
this was precisely adapted in soil and climate to the 
growth of those important staples, the grape, the fig, and 
the olive, and they made it perhaps the most wealthy and 
populous part of the land. The innumerable remains of 
terraces and cisterns, and the ruins of large towns and 
villages thickly scattered over this romantic region, would 
clearly demonstrate, even if both sacred and profane his- 
tory were silent on the subject, that it has been densely 
peopled and highly cultivated. Now by far the largest 
portion of this mountain tract is susceptible of being fully 
restored to its ancient fertility. The valleys produce 
wheat very well at present, and the tops of the moun- 
tains, though utterly neglected, are covered with fine 
pasturage. 

"Any practicable attempt to restore Palestine to its 
former prosperity must be based on the revival of agri- 
culture. There is now really no basis for any extension 

of commerce, and a colony of tradesmen, such, for in- 

15 * 



176 



The Old World— Palestine. 



stance, as the Jews would give the country, would only 
increase its poverty and wretchedness. The Duke of 
Ragusa advised Mohammed Ali to make Palestine and 
Syria an immense sheep-walk, and this should probably 
be the first object of a colony here. Large additional 
tracts might also be tilled in wheat, with no greater labor 
of preparation and improvement than that of turning up 
the soil with the pough. The product of cotton and 
tobacco, which are already articles of export, might be 
doubled or trebled at once. Plantations of vine, olive, 
fig, and other fruit-bearing trees would require more 
time and return slower profits ; but they would be indis- 
pensable to the complete renovation of the country and 
the full development of its resources. 

" It fills me with surprise to see some of the best men of 
England laboring to promote the colonization of Jews in 
Palestine, and that under existing governments. The 
Jews are precisely the last people on earth fitted for such 
an enterprise, as they are a nation of traffickers, and 
know nothing of agriculture. It would be worth while 
also for the Christian philanthropist to inquire whether 
the probabilities in favor of their conversion to Chris- 
tianity would be multiplied by this restoration, to their 
fatherland, where a thousand circumstances would per- 
petually remind them of the glorious days of their nation 
and its religion. And surely the form of Christianity 
which a Jew may behold in Jerusalem is not such as 
can ever win him to forsake the cherished faith of his 
fathers." 

About two hours and a half over level road bring us to 
the site of ancient Jezreel. There are no ruins here save 
an old square tower, probably of Roman origin ; the 
town itself is a small collection of rough stone huts, with 
flat mud roofs. Its situation is on a gently rising mound 



Desolation and Beauty. 



177 



or hill, the apex of which is probably two hundred feet 
above the average level of the surrounding plains. The 
view from this point is grand and beautiful. East and 
west the valley stretches out as far as the eye can reach, 
or until it rests upon the blue hills of Moab on the one 
side, and Mount Carmel on the other ; on the south stands 
the mountains of Gibeon, where the followers of Saul 
cast away their shields, whilst he and Jonathan fell slain 
in the hands of their victorious foe ; far to the northward 
the heights of Little Hermon rise gently in view, to 
which the snow-capped heights of the Great Hermon 
form a fitting background. 

Standing upon a watch-tower at this point, it was easy 
enough for the watchman to see the intrepid Jehu, driv- 
ing "Jehu-like," as he came up from the eastward, and 
in sufficient time to report it to Joram and Ahaziah, who 
were in the palace. 

This was the city of King Ahab, and hereabouts was 
the vineyard of Naboth ; here it was that the infamous 
Jezebel was thrown from the window by the eunuchs, 
and when they went to bury her " they found no more of 
her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her 
hands," as had been spoken by the prophet Elijah ; and 
from this place went forth the terrible order of Jehu, that 
of the seventy sons of Ahab all should be slain ; and 
"they took the king's sons, and slew seventy persons, 
and put their heads in baskets, and sent him them to 
Jezreel." 

A short ride brings us to the Fountain of Jezreel, 
bursting out in great force at the base of the hill, around 
which the army of Saul encamped, and on which his 
body was found after the battle. We drink from the 
spring, and find the waters sweet and refreshing. 

At this time (April) the plain of Jezreel has no sign 



178 The Old World— Palestine. 



of cultivation about it ; but another traveler, who passed 
over this same route at a later season of the year, says : 
" We found harvest going on in many places. The grain, 
as soon .as cut, is brought in small sheaves to the thresh- 
ing-floors on the backs of asses, or sometimes of camels. 
The little donkeys are so often covered with their load of 
grain as to be themselves hardly visible ; one sees only a 
mass of sheaves moving along as if of its own accord. 
A level spot is selected for the threshing-floors, which 
are. then constructed near each other, of a circular form, 
perhaps fifty feet in diameter, merely by beating down the 
earth hard. Upon these circles the sheaves are spread 
out very thickly ; and the grain is trodden out by animals, 
or a coarse sledge is driven over it, the under surface of 
which is set with sharp flint-stones that force out the 
grain and cut up the straw into chaff. The whole pro- 
cess is exceedingly wasteful, from the transportation on 
the backs of animals to the treading out upon the thresh- 
ing-floor." 

Another short ride across the plain, in a diagonal di- 
rection, brings us to the site of ancient Shunam, now 
called Sulem. A score of lazy idlers sit upon the out- 
skirts of the village as we approach it, and wonder, no 
doubt, what in the world can cause such an influx of 
" Franks" to their miserable, dirty town. 

Not one of them, probably, has ever read or heard of 
the Shunammite woman to whom, for kindness received, 
Elisha first promised a son, and when disease had laid 
that son low in death, restored him to life, and presented 
him once again to a mother's love. 

Not far from Shunam is the village of Nain, on the 
northern slope of Little Hermon. It contains but few 
houses, and these few are very poor. A little beyond the 
village we reach the present burial-place, and near this 



Desolation and Beauty. 



179 



are rock-hewn tombs of very ancient date. The path 
from Capernaum to Nain goes near these ancient tombs, 
and it is not difficult to trace, in imagination, the weary 
footsteps of Jesus, as, coming from the place where but 
the day before he had healed the centurion's servant, he 
meets the mournful procession, carrying to the tombs 
" the only son of his mother, and she was a widow." 
" And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on 
her, and said unto her, Weep not. And he came and 
touched the bier, and they that bare him stood still. And 
he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he 
delivered him to his mother." 

What could be more touchingly beautiful than this 
simple narrative of the compassion and power of Jesus ? 
And do you wonder that we feel a deep interest in view- 
ing even this little Syrian village, with all its poverty and 
wretchedness, after knowing that Jesus once hallowed it 
with his presence, and restored from death to life, near its 
gate, the son of the widow of Nain ? 

On a hillside, to the east of Nain, is the site of ancient 
Endor, now called Endoor ; and but a little way off are 
caves in the rocks, in one of which the witch probably 
dwelt to whom Saul went for divination prior to the fatal 
battle of Gilboa. Saul would know his fate even from 
the lips of Samuel ; and when the " old man, covered 
with a mantle," stood before him, and with deep, sepul- 
chral voice inquired, " Why hast thou disquieted me, to 
bring me up ?" and when the same voice said to Saul, 
" Wherefore then doest thou ask of me, seeing the Lord 
is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy?" need 
we wonder at the subsequent recital, that " then Saul fell 
straightway along on the earth, and was sore afraid be- 
cause of the words of Samuel ?" 

Directly opposite where Endor was situated, Mount 



i8o 



The Old World — Palestine, 



Tabor looms up from the valley, but of this more here- 
after when we climb to its summit and "view the landscape 
o'er." 

At the foot of Mount Nazareth, near a little village 
called Saleh, we commence the ascent of a very difficult 
path, though we finally succeed in reaching its highest 
point ; and turning our horses' heads around, we have an- 
other magnificent view of the plain of Esdraelon and the 
hills and villages around and about. 

On, still on, we travel, over a rough path, until we come 
within sight of Nazareth. It stands upon the slope of a 
hill opposite to the one we are descending, and from almost 
every point of descent we have the whole town in full 
view. Its white stone houses, looming up one above the 
other, look beautiful in the distance, though a closer in- 
spection, we regret to say, takes away much of the en- 
chantment. 

As we descend the long, steep hillside, we have time to 
reflect that here — yes, just here — the child Jesus spent 
most of his early years ; upon this very mountain, and over 
this hillside, his feet often wandered ; under the shadow 
of some of these rocks he probably sat and pondered over 
the work which his Father had given him to do ; in the 
streets of the town now before us he in his early years 
was only known as the " carpenter's son ;" here he com- 
menced his ministry, but when the words which he uttered 
in the synagogue pleased not the Nazarenes, they " rose 
up and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the 
brow of the hilll whereon their city was built, that they 
might cast him down headlong. But he, passing through 
the midst of them, went his way." 

It is nearly sundown when we reach Nazareth, and here 
we will rest for the night ; but before closing this chapter 
we know our readers will be gratified if we add the expe- 



Desolation and Beauty. 181 

rience and observations of another traveler (Skinner), who, 
not many years since, visited this same city of Nazareth. 
He says : 

" It was just five o'clock when we came to Nazareth, 
which was not visible till we were immediately above it. 
The capital of Galilee is now a little town containing three 
thousand inhabitants, chiefly Christians. Its white houses 
are delightfully situated on a gentle acclivity, hemmed in 
by mountains on all sides but one, which opens on a valley 
about two miles and a half in length. The Greek church, 
the high minaret of the Turkish mosque, and the extensive, 
broad walls of the Latin convent, were the first objects 
that caught our eyes. 

"We proceeded at once to the Latin convent ; the inner 
door was closed ; and passing through a small arch at the 
upper end of the court and raising a curtain, I stood in 
the Church of the Annunciation. It was the hour of the 
the vesper service, and the monks were all on their knees, 
with their arms stretched, in the manner of the Francis- 
cans, toward heaven. It was dark, and no light came 
from without, but candles and lamps innumerable gave a 
rich color to all around. The procession was over, and 
the monks were immovable in prayer ; their devoted atti- 
tudes, their bald heads and long beards had a most im- 
posing effect. The solemn notes of the organ, the odor 
of incense, and the handsome building itself, with the sud- 
den manner in which I had descended into it from the 
hills, had an air of mystery about it that seemed not of this 
earth. It was not profane, I hope, in so holy a neighbor- 
hood, to remember the Scotch knight in the subterranean 
chapel of Engaddi : just such a surprise did it all seem to 
me. Beneath the altar, which stands in the centre of the 
church, was a flight of steps leading into a cave, over 
which a soft stream of light was cast from several lamps 



i82 The Old World— Palestine. 



that hung within it. I could then only conjecture the 
character of these evidently most sacred places, for all the 
monks were so absorbed in their devotions that I could 
not inquire. I do not think any one perceived me. 

"At length they rose from their knees, and in a solemn 
procession, headed by the superior, wound along the aisles, 
their heads bowed down and their arms crossed upon their 
breasts. At certain parts of the church they paused, and 
kneeling for a moment, touched the pavement with their 
foreheads, and again rising, moved on, till all being finished, 
they gradually disappeared through a small door beneath 
the organ loft ; the last of the devout line closed it after 
him, and I was left alone in the church, doubtful almost 
whether I had witnessed a scene of reality or not." 



CHAPTER IX. 



ONWARD THROUGH GALILEE. 

THERE are but few places in Palestine of more 
general interest to the tourist than Nazareth — not 
only because of the associations connected therewith, but 
because the location of the town itself, and the extensive 
view one can have from the summit of the hill immedi- 
ately behind it, are among the finest in Syria. 

The first place we visit in Nazareth is the Latin con- 
vent, in which are located the Church of the Annuncia- 
tion and the house of Joseph and Mary. 

The convent is of considerable size, very old, and fitted 
up in the usual convent style. The central portion is ar- 
ranged as a church, with altars, praying-places, etc., and 
adorned with damask, silk, and other gewgaws. A de- 
scent of a few steps brings us into what are shown as the 
kitchen, parlor, and bedroom of the Virgin ; and in front, 
or rather to the right, of the altar are two granite pillars, 
about three feet apart, which are said to mark the precise 
spot where Mary and the angel stood when the latter said 
to the former, " Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor 
with God. And behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, 
and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus." 

One of these columns has at some time been severed, 
and the upper part is now suspended from the roof — not 
16 183 



184 The Old World— Palestine. 



by Divine interposition as the monks pretend, but by 
good, strong mason-work in an arched ceiling. These 
monks declare that the column was hacked through by 
the swords of the Mohammedans. Below the suspended 
portion, leaving a space of probably a foot, the fragment 
of another column has been placed, of different kind of 
stone from the first. How even the most credulous can 
be made to believe in the miraculous suspension of the 
upper portion of the column is most marvelous ! The 
other two rooms are mere excavations in the rock and 
without adornment. 

From this church we are conducted through another 
street to a small chapel, which is pointed out as the work- 
shop of Joseph. The chapel is neatly fitted up, and 
over the altar hangs a well-executed picture, representing 
Joseph resting from his labors, while the child Jesus is 
reading to him from an open book on his lap, and Mary, 
in the background, is listening attentively. 

Near this is another chapel, which is pointed out as 
the synagogue, or the site of the one, in which Jesus 
taught the people, and from which he was thrust out by 
the provoked Jews. Worship is being held in this chapel 
at the time we visit it, and the worshipers seem wholly 
absorbed in their devotions. 

Another traveler writing of this incident in the life of 
Jesus, says : " The little Maronite church of Nazareth stands 
quite in the south-west part of the town, under a precipice 
of the hill, which here breaks off in a perpendicular wall 
forty or fifty feet in height. We notice several other 
similar precipices in the western hill around the village. 
Some of these, perhaps that by the Maronite church, 
may well have been the spot whither the Jews led Jesus 
6 unto the brow of a hill whereon their city was built, that 
they might cast him down headlong ; but he, passing 



Onward through Galilee. 



through the midst of them, went his way.' There is 
here no intimation that his escape was favored by the ex- 
ertion of any miraculous power ; but he made his way 
fearlessly through the crowd ; and probably eluded their 
pursuit by availing himself of the narrow and crooked 
streets of the city. 

" The monks have chosen for the scene of this event 
the Mount of Precipitation, so called ; a precipice over- 
looking the plain of Esdraelon, nearly two miles south 
by east of Nazareth. It appears to be seventy or eighty 
feet to the first shelving place, but to the very bottom 
three hundred. A stone four feet and a half high stands 
on the edge of it as a parapet, in which are some small 
round cavities, believed to be the marks of our Lord's 
fingers when he struggled against those who would have 
thrown him over. A little altar below, cut in the rock, 
formerly stood within a chapel built by St. Helena, the 
foundations of which remain, together with two cisterns 
of great depth. 

" Among all the legends that have been fastened on 
the Holy Land none are more clumsy than this ; which 
presupposes that in a popular and momentary tumult 
they should have had the patience to lead off their victim 
to an hour's distance, in order to do what there was an 
equal facility for doing near at hand. Indeed such is the 
intrinsic absurdity of the legend that the monks them- 
selves, now-a-days, in order to avoid it, make the ancient 
Nazareth to have stood on the summit of the precipice in 
question. But the good fathers forget the dilemma into 
which they thus bring themselves ; for, upon that suppo- 
sition, what becomes of the holy places now shown in the 
present town ?" 

On another street, and farther up the side of the hill 
on which the town stands, is another chapel, recently re- 



1 86 The Old World— Palestine. 



constructed, in the centre of which is a large, flat stone, 
which is represented as the table on which Christ fre- 
quently ate, both before and after his resurrection. On a 
tablet of marble is the certificate of the Pope, certifying 
to the identity of the stone, and granting an indulgence 
to such pilgrims as visit it. 

At the other end of the town the Greeks have a con- 
vent, erected over what is known as the Fountain of the 
Virgin, where, they say, the Annunciation took place 
while Mary was drawing water. Near the mouth of the 
fountain is an altar profusely decorated, orer which hangs 
a picture representing Mary standing by the fountain, and 
the angel near her, announcing the glad news of her ac- 
ceptance as the chosen instrument through which the 
Messiah was to be born into the world. The church is 
neatly fitted up, and the structure of the whole convent 
is much superior to the Latin. 

The weight of evidence, as derived from long tradition, 
rests with the Latins, and but few tourists give any cre- 
dence to the pretensions of the Greeks. 

With reference to these two convents, and of convents 
generally throughout the Holy Land, Lamartine says : 
" Travelers" (Catholic travelers he means, and perhaps 
Chateaubriand especially) " have given a romantic and 
false representation. Nothing is less poetic or less re- 
ligious, when inspected narrowly. Their conception is 
beautiful and grand. Men tear themselves from the de- 
lights of Western civilization to put their existence in 
jeopardy, or to lead a life of privations and martyrdom 
amongst the persecutors of their faith, on the very spots 
where the mysteries of their religion have consecrated 
the earth. They fast, they watch, they pray, in the 
midst of the blasphemies of the Turks and Arabs, in 
order that a little Christian incense shall still burn on 



Onward through Galilee. 187 



each piece of ground where Christianity had birth. They 
are the guardians of the sacred cradle and sepulchre ; the 
angel of judgment shall find them alone at these places, 
like the holy women who watched and wept near the 
empty tomb. All this is beautiful and sublime in thought, 
but in actual fact these ideas must vanish. There is no 
persecution, no martyrdom ; all around these retreats 
there is a Christian population, ready for the service and 
orders of the monks of the convents. The Turks annoy 
them in no respect whatever^; on the contrary, they pro- 
tect them. They are the most tolerant people on the 
earth, and understand better than others religion and 
prayer, in whatever language and under whatever form 
they are expressed. Atheism alone they detest, as they 
esteem it, with reason, a degradation of the human intel- 
lect, an insult to humanity much more than to the un- 
doubted Being, God. These convents, besides, are under 
the respected and inviolable protection of the Christian 
Powers, represented by their consuls. On a complaint 
of the superior, the consul writes to the pasha, and justice 
is done on the very instant. The monks whom I have 
seen in the Holy Land, far from presenting to me the 
image of the long martyrdom with which they had been 
credited, appeared to me the most happy, respected, and 
feared of the inhabitants of these countries. They in- 
habit a sort of strong castles, similar to those of our own 
Middle Ages. Their residences are inviolable, surrounded 
with walls, and closed with gates of iron. These gates 
are only opened for the Catholic population of the neigh- 
borhood, which comes to assist at the offices, to receive a 
little pious instruction, and to pay, in respect and devoted- 
ness to the monks, the dues of the altar. I never went 
out accompanied by one of the fathers into the streets of 

a Syrian town but the children and women came and 
16* 



i88 



The Old World— Palestine. 



bowed to the monk, and kissed his hand and the bottom 
of his robe. The Turks, even, very far from insulting 
them, seem to partake the respect which they everywhere 
command as they move along. 

" Now, who are these monks ? In general, Spanish and 
Italian peasants, who have entered young into the convents 
of their country, and growing tired of the monastic life, are 
anxious to diversify it by the aspect of new countries, and 
seek to be sent to the Holy Land. Their residence in the 
house of their order established in the East does not in gene- 
ral continue for more than two or three years. A vessel 
comes to take them back, and brings others in their place. 
Those who learn Arabic, and devote themselves to the ser- 
vice of the Catholic population of the towns, stay longer, 
and often pass there the whole of their lives. They follow 
the occupations and life of the country cures in France, but 
they are encircled with more veneration and attachment. 
Others remain shut up within the precincts of the convent, 
or pass from one house to another in order to complete 
their pilgrimage — sometimes to Nazareth, or to Bethlehem, 
to Rome, to Jaffa, or to the convent of St. John in the 
desert. They have no other employment than the offices 
of the church, and the promenade in the gardens or on the 
terraces of the convent. No books, no studies, no useful 
function. They are devoured by listlessness ; cabals are 
formed in the interior of the convent ; the Spaniards decry 
the Italians, and the Italians the Spaniards. We were not 
much edified by the relations the monks of Nazareth gave 
of each other. We did not find a single individual amongst 
them who could sustain the slightest rational conversation, 
even on subjects which their vocation should have rendered 
familiar to them. No knowledge of sacred antiquity, of 
the fathers, or of the history of the "places they resided in. 
The whole is reduced to a certain number of popular and 



Onward through Galilee. 189 

ridiculous traditions, which they transmit amongst them- 
selves without examination, and which they deliver to 
travelers as they have received them from the ignorance 
and credulity of the Christian Arabs of the country. 
They all sigh for the moment of their deliverance, and 
return to Italy or Spain without any advantage to them- 
selves or to religion. As for other points, the granaries 
of the convent are well filled ; the cellars are stocked 
with the best wines this earth can produce. They do it 
all themselves. Every two years a ship arrives from 
Spain, bearing to the superiors the revenue supplied by 
the Catholic Powers, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. This 
sum, increased by the pious alms of the Christians of 
Egypt, Greece, Constantinople, and Syria, furnishes them, 
it is said, with an income of from £12,000 to £16,000 
sterling per annum, which is divided amongst the different 
convents, according to the number of monks and the wants 
of each community. The edifices are well supported, and 
everything indicates comfort, and even relative luxury, in 
the houses which I have visited. I have never witnessed 
anything flagitious in the monks' abodes in the Holy 
Land. Ignorance, idleness, and listlessness are the three 
plagues which they should and could eradicate." 

Nazareth is said to contain about three thousand in- 
habitants, most of whom are Christians. They are 
civil to travelers, and the monks and priests at the con- 
vents are particularly polite and attentive to visitors. 
The houses of Nazareth are better than those in most of 
the Syrian towns, and there seems to be more trade and 
enterprise among the people. 

Buckhardt observed, and so have we, that the inhabit- 
ants of Nazareth differ somewhat in features and color 
from the Northern Syrians ; their physiognomy approaches 
that of the Egyptians, while their dialect and pronuncia- 



190 



The Old World — Palestine. 



tion differ widely from those of Damascus. In Western 
Palestine, especially on the coast, the inhabitants seem in 
general to bear more resemblance to the natives of Egypt 
than those of Northern Syria. Toward the east of Pales- 
tine, on the contrary, especially in the villages about 
Nablous, Jerusalem, and Hebron, they are evidently of 
the Syrian stock in features, though not in language. It 
would be an interesting subject for an artist to portray 
accurately the different features of the Syrian nations ; 
the Aleppine, the Turkman, the native of Lebanon, the 
Damascene, the inhabitant of the sea-coast from Beyrout 
to Akka, and the Bedouin, although all inhabiting the 
same country, have distinct national physiognomies ; and 
a slight acquaintance with them enables one to determine 
the native district of a Syrian with almost as much cer- 
tainty as an Englishman or American may be distin- 
guished at first sight from an Italian or an inhabitant of 
the south of France. 

The view from the high hill-top back of Nazareth is 
grandly beautiful. On the summit stands a Mohamme- 
dan wely or tomb, from the top of which the view is still 
more extensive. Away off to the west, Mount Carmel 
rises majestically in view and reaching to the blue waters 
of the Mediterranean ; south-eastward Mount Tabor lifts 
its lofty head, with its green mottled sides and ruin-capped 
summit ; behind this are the blue hills of Moab, with 
Little Hermon and Gilboa intervening ; away to the 
southward stretches the Valley of the Jordan ; while, over 
the intervening mountain, you look down upon the plain of 
Esdraelon, stretching far to the eastward and westward. 
The view is such that once seen it can never be forgotten. 

From Nazareth our course lies direct to Mount Tabor, 
which mountain we propose to ascend. The path from 
Nazareth to Mount Tabor is rough, but we finally reach 



Onward Ikrougk Galilee. 191 

its base and commence to ascend. We had been told 
that the path up Mount Tabor was difficult, but, whatever 
it may have been in times past, at present it is one of the 
best mountain-paths in Syria. The side of the mountain 
where the path goes up is dotted over with Syrian oaks 
and shrubs of various species, and special pains have 
been taken to plant them along each side of the path. 
The recent erection of a Greek convent on the summit of 
the mount may account, in part, for the better condition 
of the road at this time. 

As we zigzag up the mountain-path the view at each 
new facing and elevation grows more and more extensive 
and grand : and when we fairly reach the summit and 
stand upon the topmost point of the old ruins, it seems as 
though we could see all over Palestine. As we sit upon 
these old ruins, exclamations of surprise burst forth again 
and again from the different members of our part}', so 
magnificent is the view from this point. Two Scotch 
tourists are with us, who are no less interested than our- 
selves in the prospect around and about us. 

The ruins upon the summit are quite extensive, and 
show great strength and soliditv in their construction. 
Some have been fortifications, others churches and chap- 
els, and still others may have been temples of date more 
ancient, but all are now in a ruined and desolate condi- 
tion, save the new Greek convent, which, though small, 
seems to be neatly and substantially built. 

We are not a little interested in looking over the great 
plain of Esdraelon at our feet, and trying to locate some 
of the many great battles which have taken place from 
time to time upon it. The Hebrews, the Romans, and 
the French have all marshaled their forces upon this 
plain at different periods of the world's history. 

The battle of Mount Tabor, in which the First Napo- 



192 



The Old World — Palestine. 



leon, with six hundred men, rescued General Kleber 
and his fifteen hundred from twenty-five thousand of the 
enemy, is well known to all modern historians ; while 
ancient history and the Bible inform us of many other 
great and bloody battles fought within view of where we 
we are now sitting. 

The descent of Mount Tabor is quite as easy as the 
ascent, and in due time we find ourselves once more upon 
the broad plain, with our faces directed toward the Sea 
of Galilee. 

At the foot of Mount Tabor is the small and wretched 
village of "Deborah," where she who judged Israel is 
reported to have dispensed her decrees to the people who 
u came up to her for judgment." It is worthy of remark 
that at the present day the Arabs assemble at the foot of 
the same Mount Tabor every Monday, to hold a bazaar 
and dispose of their merchandise, the governor of Ta- 
beriah, in whose jurisdiction it is, either attending in 
person or sending a deputy to dispense justice. There is 
no village at the place, but the meeting is held in the 
open plain, as it might be, " under the palm tree of De- 
borah ;" and close to the spot are some ruins, at w T hich 
all those who are debtors for tributes or duties are accus- 
tomed to pay them. Although it is merely related in the 
Book of Judges that the people " came up for judgment" 
to stated places at different periods, it is yet by no means 
improbable that they did at the same time transact other 
business, and that the meeting was also taken advantage 
of for the sale of merchandise, out of which ancient prac- 
tice the present one seems to have grown. 

On our way to Galilee we pass the ruins of two old 
Saracenic khans, and see several Bedouin encampments, 
with their black camel-hair tents and extensive ^erds of 
horses, donkeys, cattle, and sheep ; but beyond these we 



Onward through Galilee. 



193 



see nothing of interest until we reach the high hills which 
surround the Sea of Galilee and look down upon its 
placid waters and the town of Tiberias located on its 
shores. 

From this moment all the sacred associations of these 
waters and these shores commence to impress themselves 
forcibly upon our mind ; and it takes but a little stretch 
of the imagination to see Jesus of Nazareth delivering 
the sermon from the Mount of Beatitudes, near by ; to 
see Jesus walking by the sea, and calling the " two 
brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother," 
to make them " fishers of men ;" to see the Lord upon a 
vessel, in the midst of the sea, and a great storm abroad, 
and to hear his voice rebuking the winds and the sea, 
when immediately follows a great calm ; to see Jesus 
seated in a vessel, a little way from shore, and teaching 
the multitude the way of eternal life ; to see Jesus taking 
the man who was deaf, and had an impediment in his 
speech, aside from the multitude, and hear him speak the 
words "be opened;" and straightway his ears were 
opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he 
spoke plain ; to see the four thousand seated on the slopes 
of the sea-shore with Jesus in their midst, feeding them 
miraculously with seven loaves and a few small fishes. 

These, with many other works which Jesus did on and 
near the Sea of Galilee, press upon our mind, and make 
us feel that we are indeed looking upon one of the most 
hallowed spots of all God's footstool. 

The Mount of Beatitudes, which we see on the way, is 
a beautiful spot, and just such an one as the Saviour 
might have chosen for the occasion. Stephens, in writing 
of it, says : 

"Not very much farther is the Mount of Beatitudes, 
whence our Saviour delivered his sermon. It stands very 



i 9 4 



The Old World — Palestine. 



little above a green plain of the stillest possible appear- 
ance. There is a gravity about the scene that would 
have struck me with peculiar awe, even though I had not 
known the peculiar solemnity attached to it. Whether 
the tradition be true or not, it was just the place where, 
in those primitive days, or even in the state of society 
which exists now in the Holy Land, such an event might 
have taken place — the preacher standing a little up the 
hill, and the multitude sitting down below him. Indeed, 
so strikingly similar in all its details is the state of society 
existing here now to that which existed in the time of our 
Saviour, that I remember when standing on the ruins of 
a small church supposed to cover the precise spot where 
Christ preached that compendium of goodness and wis- 
dom, it struck me that if I or any other man should 
preach new and strange things, the people would come 
out from the cities and villages to listen and dispute, as 
they did under the preaching of our Lord." 

Dr. Robinson gives his impressions of this route, and 
his first view of the Sea of Galilee, as follows : 

" Farther on we passed the scene of the miracle of the 
loaves and fishes. These and other localities, marked 
out for the veneration of the pious, may be and perhaps 
are mere monkish conjectures ; but one thing we know, 
that our Saviour and his disciples journeyed on this road ; 
that he looked upon the same scenes, and that in all 
probability somewhere within the range of my eye these 
deeds and miracles were actually performed. At all 
events, as I reached the brow of the height above Tiberias, 
before me in full view was the hallowed lake of Gen- 
nesareth. Here we cannot be wrong : Christ walked 
upon that sea, and stilled the raging of its waters, and 
preached the tidings of salvation to the cities on its banks. 
To me, I confess, so long as we continued round the lake, 



Onward through Galilee. 



195 



the attraction lay more in these associations than in the 
scenery." 

It is about five o'clock when we reach our tents, pitched 
on the sea-shore near Tiberias ; and as we propose to 
remain here a week, we shall have ample time to examine 
everything of interest about the sea. There are eighteen 
tents here beside our own, the occupants of most of which 
are Americans, showing the great interest which our own 
countrymen feel in the history and associations of the 
Holy Land. 

From what we had heard and read of this sea, we 
had expected to find an encampment on its shores uncom- 
fortably warm, even at this season of the year (April 12), 
but in this we are happily disappointed. Indeed, if there 
is any fault at all to be found with the temperature, it is 
from the cold rather than from the heat. As the waters 
of this lake lie in a deep basin, surrounded on all sides 
by lofty hills, except at the outlet and entrance of the 
Jordan, the heat upon the shores is, at some seasons of 
the year, no doubt very oppressive. Lord Francis Eger- 
ton, who visited this lake in the month of May, thus 
relates his experience : 

" We pitched our tents on the margin of the lake, de- 
termining to prolong our stay over the morrow. We 
found bitter reason to repent this arrangement. All my 
previous conceptions of heat were inadequate to the 
reality of a hot wind which set in during the night from 
the desert, and which at this season I was told was with- 
out precedent. At Jericho the sun was powerful ; but it 
was honest heat, tempered by the breeze and mitigated 
at night. Here the night scarcely lowered the thermome- 
ter a degree below 104. The wind, confined by the con- 
formation of the surrounding mountains, blew strong 
down the valley like a furnace-blast through a funnel. 
17 



196 The Old World — Palestine. 



The ineffable luxury of a morning and evening bath in 
the lake was dearly purchased by the miseries of the day 
and night. I could observe while enjoying this temporary 
relief that the water actually swarmed with fish, generally 
of small size, near the shore, but large ones were taking 
the fly at a little distance. One of the two boats on the 
lake passing near the shore in front of our encampment, 
I longed for a sail, and desired our janissary to hail her 
and make the proposal. The boat at first pursued her 
course ; but I presume that Hassan in his zeal resorted to 
threats, for she soon came to, and landed her master, a 
Prussian Jew, who accosted me in bad German, and 
deprecated my supposed wrath with excuses as profound 
as though I had any right to command his sendees. As 
he was standing with bated breath and uncovered head in 
the burning sun, I desired him to put on his broad-brimmed 
hat. The astonishment he displayed at this common act 
of civility, or rather humanity, convinced me that he ex- 
pected to be knocked down as a preliminary to further 
conversation. I of course soon relieved him from longer 
anxiety, and he quitted me to prosecute his mercantile 
voyage — I hope under no bad impression of Christian 
dealings, or of our mode of employing the pasha's firman, 
which I suspect had been made the most of by our zeal- 
ous official. 

"We found the kiosk scarcely more supportable than 
our tents as to heat, and far worse as to noise ; for parties 
of men and women were using the public bath alternately 
through the night, maintaining an uproar such as I never 
heard. We could make no attempt to explore the shores 
or look for the lost site of Capernaum. No physical las- 
situde, however, could deprive the scene of its impres- 
sions. The hot red haze which obscured the distant 
mountains by day, melted into a deep purple toward even- 



Onward through Galilee. 



x 97 



ing. At night the fires of Arab charcoal-burners on the 
opposite hills looked like the bivouac of some Senna- 
cherib. The waters, agitated by the hot wind, broke 
with a soothing sound upon the shore." 

At night, while the stars look down from heaven, just 
as they did when Jesus and his disciples walked upon 
these shores. Lily and I walk down the sea-shore and 
take our first bath in the clear, blue lake. The waters 
are cool, and at first chilling, and the shores are covered 
with large pebbles, which hurt the bare feet, but still we 
feel better for our bath, and sleep more soundly because 
of it. 

The following day we mount our horses and ride down 
to that point of the sea where the river Jordan flows out. 
It is about six miles from our camping-ground, with a 
good road all the way. And here occurs an accident, or 
incident. by which we get a second bath in the Jordan, 
rather unexpected to ourself. The horses of Lily, Lu, 
and myself are standing quietly in the Jordan, while all 
of us are examining and talking about its exit and onward 
flow. Looking down. Lily sees a white pebble on the 
bed of the stream which she desires to have, and, calling 
to one of our servants, desires him to get it for her. He 
rides his horse in the stream, but no sooner does his horse 
approach mine than both rear, and mine wheels suddenly 
around to kick his. The suddenness of the movement 
lands me at the bottom of the Jordan, the waters of which 
cover me completely. A double-barrel shot-gun, which 
I have slung across my shoulders at the time, helps ma- 
terially to the rapidity of my descent, and interferes some- 
what with my rising, but still I do rise and wade to the 
shore, looking more like a drowned rat than a live 
American. The horse's fore feet did not. fortunately, 
come down upon me as I lay there on the bottom of the 



198 The Old World— Palestine. 



stream, or I might not have been here to write this. The 
danger and annoyance being past, we all laugh heartily 
at the incident, while I feel none the worse for having 
had a second bath in the river Jordan. 

Our return trip leads us close by the hot springs, over 
which Ibrahim Pasha erected a very comfortable, and, in 
its time, a very luxurious, bath-house ; and here we all 
stop to take another bath. 

The bath-room is circular, with dome roof. The ex- 
cavation in the centre — into and out of which the hot 
water flows from a spring on a higher level — is about 
twenty feet in diameter and five feet deep. Around the 
edge, about half-way down, runs a step of about two feet 
in width, while at three points are regular steps leading 
from the platform to the bottom of the bath. The plat- 
form around the bath, running from the edge of the bath 
to the wall, and inclining slightly inward, is about six 
feet in width, with a seat running all around the wall. 
Six composite columns run up from the edge of the bath 
and support the dome, the latter of which is perforated 
with holes, through which the birds fly in and out. The 
bath itself and the platform all around are covered with 
slabs of polished marble. Other rooms open from this 
circular room, which were originally intended for un- 
dressing and lolling-places, and for the use of the family 
in charge. At present they are only used by the latter. 

The water as it first comes into the bath is very hot — 
too hot for any one to endure until it has cooled from 
standing. It is quite salty, and has considerable of a sul- 
phurous taste and smell. The steam which rises from it 
is about like that from boiling water, and it is exceedingly 
debilitating to the system at first. 

To enjoy a bath here, the first thing is to secure the 
room exclusively to yourself, as there are so many coming 



Onward through Galilee. 



199 



all the while that it is rarely empty. A small gratuity to 
the superintendent will secure this, and upon its receipt 
or promise, he will clear every man, woman, and child 
out of, and away from, the bath but yourself. He will 
then furnish you with matting, upon which to stand and 
lay your. clothes while undressing; and, with all this, if 
you don't have one of the most luxurious hot baths that 
the mind can conceive of, then our judgment is at fault. 

There are several other hot springs, of like character, 
along the base of this hill, not far from the shore of the 
sea, and at least two others have had buildings and bath- 
ing-houses connected with them ; but that of Ibrahim 
Pasha is now the only one in general use. The Jews of 
Tiberias, it is said, still bathe in one of the old houses, 
because they are not permitted to use the new one, but we 
know of no other distinction. 

These springs have long been celebrated for the cure 
of rheumatic complaints ; and since we have tested the 
kind of water which flows from them, containing, as it 
does, heat, salt, and sulphur, we have full faith in its 
general efficacy, though it may fail, of course, in some 
cases, in doing any good whatever. 

To thoroughly test the efficacy of these waters we have 
our tent, next day, removed from the old camping-ground 
to a spot near the bath-house, with the door of our tent 
within a few feet of the sea ; and our plan is to go over 
to the bathing-house every morning before breakfast, and 
then, immediately after coming from the hot bath, take a 
plunge in the sea. The latter produces a chilling sensa- 
tion at first, but its general effect is delicious, and for the 
balance of the day we feel like a new-made man. Oc- 
casionally we repeat the bath late in the afternoon, just 
before dinner-time ; and on one occasion we take a third 

bath between nine and ten o'clock at night. 
17* 



200 



The Old World— Palestine. 



Thus we spend six days on the shores of the Sea of 
Galilee, riding, reading, writing, and bathing ; and, cer- 
tainly, no one ever enjoyey six more pleasant days. 

We visit, in the mean time, the sites of the ancient 
towns and cities once around its coast — Magdala, Caper- 
naum, Bethsaida, etc., but of these more hereafter. 



CHAPTER X. 



THE SEA OF GALILEE. 

THE Sea of Galilee, or, as it is sometimes called, the 
Lake of Tiberias, is about fourteen miles in length, 
by about seven in breadth at its widest part. Its waters 
are exceedingly clear and sweet, except near the hot 
springs, where they have a slight saline and sulphurous 
taste. It contains an abundance of fish, and having ate 
of them we can attest to their fine flavor. Many are 
daily caught with hook and net near our tents, and they 
form an important addition to our morning meals. 

This sea lies six hundred and fifty-three feet below the 
level of the Mediterranean, and ten thousand seven hun- 
dred and sixteen feet below the summit of Mount Her- 
mon, which is in plain sight all the time except when 
obscured by clouds. This difference of elevation readily 
accounts for the fact that, while upon the shore of the sea 
the earth is quite warm, the summit of the mountain is 
capped with snow, looking joyously beautiful in the dis- 
tance. Indeed, the hills immediately about the sea are of 
considerable height, ranging from six hundred to eight 
hundred feet above its surface. 

Through the day its waters are very smooth, unless 
disturbed by wind or storm ; but, about, and for several 
hours after, sundown, quite a heavy surf breaks upon its 

201 



202 



The Old Wo t Id — Palestine. 



western shore, accompanied with considerable wind. We 
would scarcely have believed that this little sea, so deeply 
imbedded in mountains, could have gotten up such a com- 
motion, had we not seen it for ourselves. It must have 
been during just such a storm when " there arose a great 
tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered 
with the waves," that His disciples cried out, "Lord, save 
us, we perish ;" and when Jesus arose and " rebuked the 
winds and the sea, and there was a great calm." The 
little inconvenience which we ourselves suffer from the 
storm is far more than repaid by this vivid, illustration of 
one of the most interesting passages of Holy Writ. 

Some of our readers may ask, why this body of water 
is sometimes called a sea, and at other times a lake. It 
was usual Tor the Jews to call every natural expanse of 
water a sea. Accordingly, the Evangelists Matthew, 
Mark, and John, being native Jews, invariably call the 
Lake of Tiberias a " sea ;" but Luke, who was a native 
of Asia Minor, and whose geographical terms are always 
more distinctive, calls it generally a " lake."" The present 
inhabitants, like those of ancient times, still call this 
water a sea, and reckon it and the Dead Sea to be the 
two largest known except the great ocean. If some of 
these Syrians could have a glimpse of the great northern 
lakes of America, their ideas as to the relative magnitude 
of their own would be greatly changed. 

The beauty of this lake has been a theme for writers 
from the earliest days of historic record until the present. 
The Jewish writers enlarge in the most glowing terms 
on the excellency of this lake ; and, considering their 
limited means of comparison, they had reason to do so. 
" Seven seas," says the Talmud, " have I created, saith 
God, and of them all have I chosen none but the Sea of 
of Gennesareth." Josephus dwells on the sweetness and 



The Sea of Galilee. 



203 



softness of its water, on its pebbly bottom, and, above all, 
on the salubrity of the surrounding atmosphere. Dr. 
Clark says : "In picturesque beauty it perhaps comes 
nearest to the Lake of Locarno in Italy, although it be 
destitute of anything similar to the islands by which that 
majestic piece of water is adorned. It is inferior in mag- 
nitude, and, perhaps, in the height of the neighboring 
mountains, to the Lake Asphaltites ; but its broad and 
extended surface covering the bottom of a profound 
valley, surrounded by lofty and precipitous eminences, 
when added to the impression under which every Chris- 
tian pilgrim approaches it, gives it a character of unpar- 
alleled dignity." 

In these vivid descriptions some allowance must be 
made for the enthusiasm of the writers ; for, while it is 
indeed true that the lake itself and the surrounding hills 
are somewhat beautiful and intensely interesting, yet the 
stillness and desolation which brood over all has a sad- 
dening rather than a pleasing effect on the eye and mind 
of the traveler. You may stand upon its shores and gaze 
for hours without seeing a single boat upon its surface, 
and scarcely a human being upon its borders ; and, with 
the exception of the mean town of Tiberias and one or 
two miserable villages, you may look in vain for signs of 
habitation. 

In this respect how different is the view now from 
what it was in the time of Christ ! Then the borders of 
the lake were thickly populated, and the eye rested in 
turn upon fortresses and cities, towns and villages. Here 
stood not only the royal city of Tiberias, but the woe- 
doomed cities of Chorazin and Capernaum, both the 
frequent witnesses of his " mighty works," and the latter 
his most usual place of residence. Then they "were 
exalted unto heaven," but now thev are so utterly " cast 



204 The Old World — Palestine. 



down" that men know not exactly where they stood. 
Here also were Bethsaida — " the city of Andrew and 
Peter" — Hippos and Gamala, Tarichea and Beth-Meon, 
Ammaus and the strong Magdala, with many other 
places of less note, the names of which history has found 
no occasion to preserve. Then, also, the surface of the 
lake was enlivened with the numerous boats passing con- 
stantly across, and from town to town, with passengers 
and goods, while the fishers launched forth to cast their 
nets in the deep waters. Then, the shores were every- 
where richly planted and cultivated, and afforded many 
delightful gardens and paradises, while numerous people, 
busy or unoccupied, were seen passing to and fro ; and 
then, instead of this silence, were heard the voices of 
men calling to each other, the joyous shouts of happy chil- 
dren, the sound of the song and harp, the noise of the 
millstones, and the lowing of the herds on the sides of 
the hills. Amidst the present vacancy and silence the 
mind can better fill out of the details of such a picture 
than if the scene actually occupied other and different 
objects than those which the imagination wishes to 
supply. 

On one of the days, while stopping on the shores of the 
sea, we take a ride along its western coast, to see the 
ruins or sites of its ancient cities ; and, if possible, to 
reach the point where the Jordan flows into it; for we 
may here remark that the Jordan flows not only out of, 
but into this sea or lake, and at one time (and even still, 
by some) the sea itself was only regarded as a broad 
expansion of the river. 

Leaving our tents about eight in the morning, we pass 
by the town of Tiberias, and in about an hour after we 
reach Magdala, a small, miserably-built Syrian village, 
with nothing of interest about it except its being the place 



The Sea of Galilee. 



205 



of Mary Magdalene, who, as it is recorded in St. Luke, 
"brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at 
Jesus' feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his 
feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her 
head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the 
ointment ;" of whom Jesus said, " Her sins, which are 
many, are forgiven ; for she loved much ; but to whom 
little is forgiven, the same loveth little ;" and to whose 
name the immortality of faithfulness will for ever remain, 
as having been "last at the cross and first at the sepul- 
chre." 

After leaving Magdala we enter upon a small plain or 
cove, with the sea upon the one side and high hills on all 
the others. It embraces an area of several hundred acres, 
which at one time, doubtless, was highly cultivated, but 
now it is all grown over with grass and weeds. Several 
small streams run through it in their course from the sur- 
rounding mountains to the sea. This is the plain of 
Gennesaret, from which the sea itself is sometimes called 
the " Lake of Gennesaret." 

At the northern end of this plain, not far from the sea, 
and near where the road commences the ascent of the 
high hills, is the Fountain of the Fig, or, as the natives 
call it, Ain el Tin. This, until recently, has been sup- 
posed to mark the site of ancient Capernaum ; but recent 
excavations made by Captain Wilson of the British army 
on the sea-shore, about one mile further north, prove (as 
far as proof is possible now) that Capernaum was located 
there instead of near the Fountain of the Fig, as hereto- 
fore supposed. The very few remains of buildings about 
the fountain go still further to confirm this opinion, while 
the ruins at the newly-discovered site are of considerable 
extent and of some beauty. 

Capernaum, simply as a city — whether large or small, 



206 The Old World — Palestine. 



or wherever located — has nothing in its history of special 
interest, except so far as the Saviour is connected with it ; 
and, in this respect, it was and is of very great interest to 
the inquirer after biblical localities. 

Here it was that Jesus, after being thrust out from 
Nazareth, came and " taught them on the Sabbath days ; 
and they were astonished at his doctrine, for his word was 
with power ;" here it was that Jesus cast out from the 
man " a spirit of an unclean devil," which in agony of 
defeat cried out, " I know thee who thou art, the Holy 
One of God ;" here it was that the centurion's servant lay 
sick, to whom Jesus extended his healing power, be- 
cause of the great faith of the master ; and this was the 
place of which Jesus uttered that awfully solemn predic- 
tion, " And thou, Capernaum, w r hich art exalted unto 
heaven, shalt be brought down to hell ; for if the mighty 
works which have been done in thee, had been done in 
Sodom, it would have remained until this day." Fear- 
fully has the prediction been verified — deep in the nether- 
most " hell" has that proud city sunk — until, at present, 
not only its walls and inhabitants are among the things 
that were, but even its site is a question of debate. 

The site of ancient Bethsaida is midway between what 
was formerly thought to be the site of Capernaum and 
the place more recently pointed out ; in either case but a 
short walk from the latter city. To reach it we climb a 
narrow path cut in the rock, leading up from near the 
" Fountain of the Fig." Its location was upon a hill 
overlooking the sea, and having a fine view of the sur- 
rounding hills and mountains. Nothing of the ancient 
city remains, unless we count- as such the stones of build- 
ings lying loosely about the hillside, and what seem to 
have been the foundations of two buildings, near the 
water's edge. 



The Sea of Galilee. 



207 



It was at Bethsaida that Jesus " took the blind man by 
the hand and led him out of the town ; and when he had 
spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked 
him if he saw aught. And he looked up, and said, I see 
men as trees walking. After that he put his hands again 
upon his eyes, and made him look up, and he was re- 
stored, and saw every man clearly ;" and it was of this 
city Jesus said, " Woe unto thee, Bethsaida ! for if the 
mighty works which were done in you" [Chorazin 
and Bethsaida] " had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they 
would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." 
Woe, indeed, has befallen to Bethsaida, until scarcely one 
stone has been left upon another ; and where hundreds, 
and perhaps thousands, once dwelt in peace and plenty, 
now the owl and the lizard are monarchs of all they 
survey. 

As to the sites of Chorazin, Hippos, Scythopolis, 
Tarichea, Gamala, and other cities which once stood 
upon the borders of this sea — of which we read in Holy 
Writ and in the works of Josephus — everything is in 
doubt ; and each tourist is privileged to locate them as 
may best suit his ideas of probability. The small vil- 
lages of Aaj, Dukah, Kufeir, Adweiriban, and Semakh, 
on the other . side of the lake, are supposed by some 
to occupy the sites of those ancient cities, but it is all 
conjecture. There is no tradition even to fix these lo- 
calities, and the judgment of one man is quite as good 
as another in determining where these ancient cities 
stood. 

We find the point where the Jordan enters the sea too 
far to reach in one day's ride ; though from the farthest 
point to which we go we can see the clefts of the moun- 
tain through which the Jordan comes into the sea, and 
can distinctly trace the long, muddy, yellow waters of the 

18 



208 



The Old World — Palestine. 



river far out in the lake, before the final commingling of 
the waters. 

On our return we ride, for some time, close along the 
water's edge, to pick up some of the shells, which lie in 
bushels upon the shore. These shells are of the Buccl- 
num species, mostly small and of not much variety, 
though some are rather pretty. Lily and Lu remain be- 
hind to select shells, while I ride on to take another look 
at Magdala. In the town, through the town, and around 
the town we ride, while every man, woman, and child 
of the village seems to be staring at us, and wondering, 
we suppose, what in the world the howajji can want or 
mean by thus closely inspecting their mud huts ; but we 
see nothing to repay us for our pains, in the way of ruins 
or ancient mementoes of any kind. There is, on the 
outer edge of the town, the remains of a stone building, 
of recent date and of considerable size, which bears evi- 
dence of having once been beautiful. It is now entirely 
abandoned, and the grounds about it are covered with 
thorn and brier bushes, as we have occasion to remember 
from having attempted to pass through them. 

The sun is near its setting as we reach our tents ; and 
though somewhat fatigued from our ride, we cannot but 
feel that the day has been profitably spent in trying to 
trace the footsteps and resting-places of Jesus during the 
three years of his ministry and pilgrimage upon earth. 
This is, indeed, holy land, and, as compared with the 
whole, the Sea of Galilee may, not inaptly, be called the 
Holy of Holies. 

While stopping on the sea-shore, we one day visit and 
ride through the town of Tiberias, to see what is to be 
seen within its once stately walls. 

During the occupancy of this country by the Romans 
this was one of their principal strongholds. The walls 



The Sea of Galilee. 209 



. which surrounded the place upon all sides, except that 
next the sea-shore, appear to have been of excellent 
masonry and very strong ; and parts of several of the 
towers along the wall still remain. At the north-eastern 
corner of the wall was a very large and strong fortress, 
or citadel, the walls of which still remain, in part, for the 
study and admiration of tourists. As we wander from 
room to room, and underneath its many stately arches, 
we cannot but think of the many who have lived, and 
loved, and hated, and died within these walls — now so 
wholly abandoned that not even an owl or a bat takes 
refuge within them. 

A frightful earthquake befell this place on the 1st of 
January, 1837. The walls of the town were thrown 
down ; the castle suffered severely ; very many of the 
houses were demolished, indeed few remained without 
injury. Out of a population of twenty-five hundred, there 
perished probably seven hundred persons, the larger pro- 
portion of whom were Jews. A native relates that he 
and four others were • returning down the mountain west 
of the city in the afternoon when the earthquake occurred. 
All at once the earth opened and closed again, and two 
of his companions disappeared. He ran home terrified ; 
and found that his wife, mother, and two others of the 
family had perished. On digging next day where his two 
companions had disappeared, they were found dead in a 
standing posture. 

Burckhardt says — and the same is true now — that "the 
Jews occupy a quarter in the middle of the town, ad- 
jacent to the lake ; this was formerly surrounded by a 
wall with a single gate, which was closed every night. 
Tiberias is one of the four holy cities of the Hebrews, 
and here, as at Jerusalem, Hebron and Safed, the un- 
happy remnant of a fallen people still hover round the 



2io The Old World — Palestine. 



graves of their fathers, and though degraded and trampled 
underfoot, are still looking for the restoration of their tem- 
poral kingdom. They are divided into two classes, 
Asiatic and European, with distinct rabbins, synagogues, 
and schools. The Europeans are Muscovites, Poles, and 
Germans, a poor, haggard, and filthy race, the shadows 
of those that may be seen in the fairs of Leipsic. The 
Asiatic Jews are more thriving, and so, too, are the 
Spanish and Portuguese, who everywhere associate with 
their Eastern brethren, most of whom speak their lan- 
guage. They observe a singular custom here in praying. 
While the rabbin recites the Psalms of David, or the 
prayers extracted from them, the congregation frequently 
imitate, by their voice and gestures, the meaning of some 
remarkable passages ; for example, when the rabbin pro- 
nounces the words, ' Praise the Lord with the sound of 
the trumpet,' they imitate the sound of the trumpet 
through their closed fists. When ' a horrible tempest' 
occurs, they puff and blow to represent a storm ; or 
should he mention 4 the cries of the righteous in distress,' 
they all set up a loud screaming ; and it not unfrequently 
happens that while some are still blowing the storm, 
others have already begun the cries of the righteous, thus 
forming a concert which it is difficult for any but a zealous 
Hebrew to hear with gravity." 

For neither love nor money will the Jewish population 
open their doors to a stranger after dark. An English 
party arriving at a late hour, sent a servant to buy some 
wine of the Jews, who sell a very good sort ; but he 
found all the houses closed against him. " They were 
afraid," he said, " of being made Turks if they opened 
their doors in the night-time." Truly a most awful 
calamity to arise from selling a bottle of wine ! To ac- 
count for the fear by which the Hebrew damsels of Ti- 



The Sea of Galilee. 



211 



berias are oppressed — for the conversion is peculiarly 
destined for them — it seems that some time ago a Turk 
was captivated by the beauty of a Jewess, and did all he 
could to obtain her. She was not to be won by fair 
means ; so, watching an opportunity, when one night 
there was eating and drinking in her father's house, he 
rushed in with a party of servants, and carried away the 
prize. When called on to make some defence for the 
outrage before the governor, he had merely, he said, had 
pity on a maiden whose charms might add fresh delight 
to Paradise ; and, as " God is merciful," had converted 
her to the faith of Mohammed. "It is the will of 
heaven," said the governor, " and fate is not to be re- 
sisted." There was an end therefore of the matter ; and 
the chance of being made a Turk has been ever since a 
very natural fear in the city. 

Once within the walls of the town, we inquire for the 
Convent of St. Peter, and, funny enough, the boy of 
whom we inquire, and whom, from his actions, we sup- 
pose understands what we want, takes us direct to the 
hotel, the proprietor of which opens his door to receive 
us with all the urbanity of a Sir John Falstaff ; but as it 
is not the place we are looking for, we decline to enter. 
Even had we been seeking a hotel, a single glance within 
the door and upon the courtyard of that one would have 
determined us at once to sleep in the open air rather than 
in such a place. From this point another boy undertakes 
to pilot us to the convent, which, after a few twists and 
turns through the narrow, rough and dirty streets of the 
town, we succeed in reaching. 

The convent stands on the sea-shore, and consists of a 
chapel, several rooms, and a small outer court. It is said 
to mark the spot where Peter lived, and where, or oppo- 
site to which, the miraculous draught of fishes was made. 
18* 



212 



The Old World — Palestine. 



The old monk who lets us in at the gate and leads us into 
the chapel seems so intent upon his book and beads that 
he can give us no further attention, and thereby misses 
the bucksheesh which he would have got had he remained 
at our elbow. This church is said to have been built in 
apostolic times, but the style of its architecture and the 
Arabic letters in an inverted position on one of the stones 
composing it, prove that it cannot be older than the time 
of the Crusaders. 

Some idea of the former grandeur of this once proud 
city of Herod may be guessed from the quantity of broken 
columns that strew the shore beyond the southern walls. 
They extend for more than a mile, and there is no doubt 
that this ground was covered by the ancient city. The 
plain runs back half a mile to the foot of the mountain, 
in the sides of which are long ranges of tombs. It was 
from one of these tombs, it is said, that the man possessed 
with devils rushed forth when our Saviour rebuked the 
unclean spirits and made them enter into a herd of swine, 
which ran violently down a steep place into the sea and 
were drowned. 

As illustrating this incident in the life of Jesus, a tra- 
veler relates the following as happening to himself at just 
this place. " One day," says he, " while I was exploring 
these caves, a Bedouin, to my great surprise, started from 
the floor of one of them and rushed to the entrance ; he 
had probably been sleeping and was enraged at my in- 
trusion. That part of valor which is called discretion I 
put in practice on the present occasion, took to myjieels, 
and never looked behind me till I arrived at the foot of 
the mountain, where I had left my guide in charge of the 
mules. The first thing I did was to seize the gun, which 
was slung across my saddle ; and I had just time to cock 
it, when I saw my pursuer about ten yards off, gesticulat- 



The Sea of Galilee. 



213 



ing violently and pointing his musket at me. He was 
alone, and might have fared badly had we proceeded to 
extremities, for it was ten to one if his rusty matchlock 
was in order, and my servant was now beside me, sword 
in hand. I simply kept the gun to my shoulder, regarding 
him steadily. He retreated a few steps and cried out, 
'•Mag-noun entiP' — 'Are you mad?' My Arab roared 
in reply, ' Eiwa magnoun kitir' — ' Yes, we are very 
mad !' The Bedouin seemed to believe him, for he ran 
up the side of a mountain like a goat, and we soon lost 
sight of him." 

But to return from this digression in our narrative : 
From the Convent of St. Peter we ride by the house of 
the governor, on whom we had made a business call a 
few days previous ; then through the bazaar of the town, 
which is small and poor ; then up to the ruins of the old 
castle ; and from thence to our tents by the sea-side. 

Two little incidents occur while we are at Tiberias, 
which forcibly illustrate the Moslem respect for power and 
position ; while, as every one knows, they hold in utter 
contempt all whom they can make to cringe to their 
authority. 

From other travelers, or in some way, the governor had 
learned that we were a United States Commissioner, 
accredited by our government to the Paris Exposition. 
While quietly sitting in our tent one day, smoking, think- 
ing, and writing, and in our shirt-sleeves, one of our 
servants comes running to the door to say that the com- 
mandant of the Turkish troops of the town is approach- 
ing, with dragoman, guards, etc., and, as he thinks, with 
the intention of calling upon us. Hastily putting on our 
coat, we step out of the tent door, and there, sure enough, 
is the commandant, dressed in full uniform, with a broad 
Turkish scimetar at his side, and accompanied by several 



214 The Old World — Palestine. 



servants, approaching our tent. We shake hands, bow, 
touch our foreheads to each other, but beyond this neither 
can understand a word of what the other says. It is 
rather an odd predicament, but we resolve to make the 
best of it. Once in our tent, however, with our own 
dragoman as interpreter between us, we get along very 
well in a conversation of an hour, and in the mean time 
we drink coffee and smoke together as familiarly as 
though we had known each other for years. We offer 
him wine, but this he declines, as every follower of the 
Prophet must who is faithful to his creed. 

He says to us that he starts this afternoon on a tour, on 
business of the government, and fearing we might leave 
before his return, he does himself the honor of calling 
upon us before he goes. All this is said, and much more, 
in true Oriental style, but without any affectation in speech 
or manner. He is certainly a very agreeable gentleman, 
and doubtless a good officer. The usual salaams are 
exchanged on parting, and with hearty good-will on our 
part. 

About an hour after a servant again rushes to our tent 
door to say that the governor and all his suite are approach- 
ing, and, as he thinks, to call upon us. Again we hastily 
put on our coat and step to the door, and find, as the 
servant surmised, the governor approaching our tent, and 
with him his son and a large guard of mounted soldiers. 
We had sent our own dragoman to town about a mile 
distant only a little while before, and now indeed we are 
in a fix, since we have no one to interpret for us. Hastily 
despatching Lu for our dragoman, we prepare to receive the 
governor as best we can, and in a few moments thereafter 
welcome him and his son to the tent with the usual shake 
of hands, bows, and salaams. He talks and we talk, but 



The Sea of Galilee. 



215 



neither can understand a word that the other says, except 
from signs and gestures. ■ 

We order coffee, cigars, and a bottle of wine, which 
our servant at once brings us ; for, since we cannot under- 
stand each other's language, we can communicate, at 
least, through our palates until our dragoman returns 
from the town. Of the coffee and cigars he partakes 
freely, but the wine he declines, with the polite explana- 
tion (which we understand from gesture rather than from 
the words he speaks) that " no true Mohammedan ever 
drinks wine." 

The governor's dress is in true Turkish, Oriental style — 
dark cloth, profusely embroidered with gold ; while his 
dragoman and guards are also dressed in great style, each 
with a huge scimetar hanging at his side. 

At length our dragoman arrives, and from thenceforth 
the governor and I keep up a brisk conversation until his 
departure. We learn from him much concerning Syria, 
Damascus, and Constantinople, which will prove of value 
to us in our future travels. He kindly offers to send a 
guard with us as far as Banias, but this we decline, tell- 
ing him we have no fears of robbers or trouble on the 
way. He finally urges us to do him the honor of a call 
before leaving Tiberias, and, as we propose to start 
to-morrow morning, we cannot, of course, do less than 
promise to call upon him in the afternoon at five 
o'clock. 

It is now our turn to do the " agreeable," so, mounting 
our horses about half-past four, we ride toward the town, 
and on reaching the wall we find one of the governor's 
servants watching for us, to guide us through the streets 
to the residence of His Excellency. On reaching the 
governor's house, we find a guard drawn up on either 
side of the passage-way to the door, each of whom, with 



2i6 The Old World — Palestine. 



a wave of the sword, salutes us as we pass. The governor, 
dressed in full official uniform, comes out to meet us, 
and conducts us into a large room, in the centre of which 
is a table covered with beautiful glass and porcelain vases 
filled with flowers ; and around which are divans on 
which to sit cross-legged. Lily and Lu manage to quirl 
themselves up much better than ourself ; for being rather 
fleshy, our legs much prefer horizontal or perpendicular 
lines to anything like a twist. 

A few moments after being seated a servant approaches 
with a very pleasant Turkish drink, the name of which 
we have now forgotten ; then coffee is passed in small 
cups and in silver holders, and then cigarettes, ad infin- 
itum, all of which we enjoy and appreciate. 

Lily asks to see the ladies of the household — a privilege 
never granted to gentlemen — and for about a half hour 
she is delightfully entertained by them. The dress, she 
tells us, of the wife and three daughters of the governor 
was Oriental throughout and exceedingly beautiful. We 
should have liked to see them ourself, but civility among 
the Turks forbids even our asking after the health of wife 
or daughter, much less looking upon their unveiled faces ! 
Had we dared to look behind us when mounted and 
about leaving, we might, perhaps, have seen them in the 
doorways or peeping out at the windows, but even this 
politeness forbade us to do. 

When our call upon His Excellency is ended, we pass 
out through a line of guards as when entering, and waving 
an adieu to the governor with our hand and to the soldiers 
with our cane, as if it had been a sword, we remount, and, 
passing through the narrow, dirty streets of the town, we 
are soon again at our tent door, heartily glad that official 
civilities are ended, though not regretting their occurrence, 
since it has given us an insight into the manners and cus- 



\ 



The Sea of Galilee. 



217 



toms of the higher and better class of Turkish officials, 
such as we otherwise might not have had. 

Another incident occurred to-day, illustrating another 
phase in Eastern life, and showing, especially, the hard 
conditions to which the Jews of Palestine are subjected by 
their Moslem rulers. 

In the course of our conversation with the governor as 
he is seated in our tent, our dragoman happens to mention 
that, as we start to-morrow on our tour northward, it would 
be desirable if we could have the half or the whole of a 
sheep for food on the way, and that while up in town he 
tried to induce the butcher to kill one for us, but this the 
butcher had declined to do, as it was not his day for slaugh- 
tering. 

The governor at once replies that he will order his ser- 
vants to kill one from his own flock, and have it sent to us 
immediately on his return to town. 

We thank the governor for his proffered courtesy and 
kindness, and add that we cannot think for a moment of 
accepting such a gift at his hands ; but if he, can persuade 
the butcher to slaughter one for us, we would be greatly 
obliged, and would pay for it liberally. 

His only answer is, " It shall be done." 

We think nothing more of the matter until near dark, 
when Mohammed returns from the town, having with him 
a servant, bearing the coveted mutton ; and then he re- 
lates to us what occurred between himself and the butcher, 
in language somewhat as follows : 

" I went, sir, as you directed me, to the butcher, and 
found that he had received an order from the governor to 
kill a sheep at once for the howajjii. The butcher is a 
dog, sir — a Jew ; and though he dared not disobey the 
governor, he did the job in a slovenly manner and de- 
layed me beyond a reasonable time. I threatened to com- 



218 The Old World— Palestine. 



plain of this to the governor, but the dog only became the 
more surly and impudent. Thereupon I seized him by 
the* beard and pulled every hair from the accursed dog's 
chin. He roared like a bull, when a score of other Jewish 
dogs came rushing up to aid him, but when they saw that 
I was a Moslem and a dragoman, they dare not lay so 
much as a finger upon me. The butcher, when I let him 
go, went straight to the governor to complain of me, and 
I went too ; and with us both came fifty or more Jews. 
He told his story and I told mine, to which the governor 
only replied that I had served him right ; adding, how- 
ever, that if the sheep, nicely dressed, was not at your tent 
door within one hour, he would have him bastinadoed — 
and here the sheep is, within the hour." 

"You paid him the money I gave you, did you not, Mo- 
hammed ?" 

" I did, sir, though the dog deserved no pay, nor would 
he have got it but for your positive order." 

Thus is it here*, and thus, indeed, is it everywhere, with 
the poor, down-trodden Jew. The curse of God still fol- 
lows him wherever he may be and whatever he may do. 
Even here, upon the soil once possessed by his ancestors ; 
here, where King David ruled and Solomon uttered his 
words of wisdom ; here, almost within sight of the tem- 
ple, "the glory of which filled the whole earth ;" yes, even 
here, the Jew is treated as the veriest " dog" by his Mos- 
lem rulers ! 

One would think that this fact alone — if no other — would 
so impress the Jewish mind that they would be forced to 
acknowledge the divinity of our Saviour — that they would 
see in all this the just indignation of an offended God, and 
would be led to seek forgiveness and mercy from Him who 
alone can save them. How long, how long, O God, shall 



The Sea of Galilee. 



21 



this land, once thy chosen habitation, but now so accursed 
continue under thy fierce displeasure? How long, how 
long, O God, shall this people, once thine "own chosen/ 
but now so down-trodden and oppressed, continue to wan- 
der into by and forbidden paths ? 
19 



CHAPTER XI. 



DESOLATE PLACES. 

Z^vUR six days near Tiberias, on the shores of the Sea 
V_y of Galilee, with hot and cold baths every day, and 
the cool and invigorating breezes from the snow-capped 
summit of Mount Hermon blowing down upon us, will 
ever be remembered as among the most pleasant of all our 
days in Palestine ; but, as all things earthly, however 
pleasant, must have an end some time, and as we have 
many other places yet to visit, we must now strike our 
tents and away. 

At half-past seven on Wednesday morning, April 17th, 
we leave our camping-ground by the seaside, and start on 
our tour northward. We again pass by Tiberias, by Mag- 
dala, by Gennesaret, and by the Fountain of the Fig, and 
soon after reach an old khan, which is thought by some 
to mark the spot where Joseph was cast into the pit by his 
brethren before they sold him to the Ishmaelites. 

Stephens, in writing of this spot and of this event, says : 
" Turning away from the consecrated lake, we fixed our 
eyes on the end of my day's journey, the towering city of 
Safed. About an hour from the lake, we came to the 
great caravan road from Jerusalem to Damascus, and a 
little off from this to a large khan, in which there is a well- 
known tradition, as the pit into which Joseph was cast by 
220 



Desolate Places. 



221 



his brethren before they sold him to the Ishmaelites. In 
all probability the legend establishing this locality has no 
better foundation than most of the others in the Holy 
Land ; but I cannot help remarking that I do not attach 
the importance assigned by others to the circumstance of 
its distance from Hebron, at that time Jacob's dwelling- 
place. We know that Joseph's brethren were feeding 
their father's flock at Shechem ; and when Joseph came 
thither, 'wandering in the field, he inquired after his 
brethren, and a man told him, They are departed hence, 
for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan.' If there be 
any good reason for calling this place Dothan, to me it 
does not seem at all strange that in the pastoral state of 
society which existed then, and still exists unchanged, 
Jacob's sons had driven their flocks to a pasture-ground 
two days further on. It happened, just as if to afford a 
striking illustration of the scene supposed to have taken 
place here, while we were loitering around the khan, a 
caravan of merchants came up on their way from Damas- 
cus to Egypt ; and the buying and selling of slaves, white 
or black, being still a part of the trade between these 
places, I had no doubt that if I had offered my servant for 
sale, they would have bought him and carried him to 
Egypt, where perhaps he would have risen to be a grand 
vizier." 

The city of Safed, to which Stephens alludes, we can 
see far off on the mountain-top, but as we have chosen an- 
other route for Damascus, we will not visit it. We must 
therefore content ourself to give to our readers a descrip- 
tion of it from the sight-seeing of others, rather than of 
our own. Its elevated position, and the fact that it can be 
seen from a great distance and from almost every point 
of the compass, has led travelers generally to believe that 
this is the place to which Christ alluded when he spoke 



222 



The Old World— Palestine. 



of a " city set upon a hill, whose light cannot be hid." 
At one time it was a city of no small importance, and, 
perhaps, of considerable beauty ; but the misrule of the 
country, and the earthquakes with which this town has 
been visited on several occasions, have worked its com- 
plete overthrow, until at present it is little more than a 
heap of ruins. When Stephens visited it in 1839, aDou t 
eighteen months after the calamitous earthquake of 1837, 
he says : " The frightful spectacle of human misery had 
of course passed away, but the place was still little more 
than one great mass of ruins. In the eastern quarter many 
of the houses had been again built up, though more still 
lay around us level with the ground. The southern quar- 
ter was perhaps the least injured of all ; here the rubbish 
has been cleared away, and this was now the chief seat of 
the Mohammedan population. Here, too, the Mutesellim 
had taken up his abode. The castle remained in the same 
state in which it had been left by the earthquake — a shape- 
less heap of ruins ; so shapeless, indeed, that it was diffi- 
cult to make out its original form. In the Jews' quarter 
many houses had likewise been temporarily rebuilt, but 
the rubbish had not been removed from the streets. We 
passed throughout the whole quarter, and found the poor 
Jews still wandering amid the ruins, among which we 
could scarcely wend our way. Many of them were em- 
ployed in digging among the rubbish, each apparently be- 
fore what had once been his dwelling." 

And so, we are told by travelers whom we have met 
recently, it remains, in a great measure, even unto the 
present day. The present ruinous and desolate condition 
of this city, and, indeed, of all others throughout Palestine, 
affords striking evidence of the weakness and vices of the 
Ottoman rule, as their vast dimensions and solidity of 
structure do of the efficiency and magnificence of that of 



Desolate Places. 



223 



their founders. No element in the Mussulman character 
is more remarkable, or more unfavorable to national pros- 
perity, than the indifference to the progress of decay, the 
unwillingness to repair the ravages of time. Even when 
a little attention or a little expense would prevent a build- 
ing or an establishment from falling to ruin, nothing is 
done to arrest the march of destruction. If an edifice be 
shaken by an earthquake, it is abandoned — it is seldom or 
never raised again on its foundations ; a ruined building, 
like a felled oak, remains in the dust for ever. Even in 
the populous parts of some of the great cities of Syria the 
heaps of ruins which have been left in the pathways by 
successive earthquakes have not been removed. A few 
hours' labor would clear the wrecks away, but the inhabit- 
ants prefer to clamber up and down the piles of stones and 
fragments rather than to displace them. 

For hours after we climb, climb, climb, and yet all the 
while the waters of the Sea of Galilee seem lying almost 
at our feet ; and when we stop, at noon, to lunch, at an 
elevation from which the last look of the sea on this road 
is to be had, it seems but a stone's throw from us. The 
air in this country is so rarefied that one is constantly at 
fault in measuring distances by the eye ; and the usual 
way of measuring distances in this country is by the hour, 
that is, by the time it takes to make the trip on horseback. 
If you ask a man how far it is from this place to that, his 
answer will be, So many hours. The people seem to 
have no conception of distance, except by time. So far 
as we can judge, their usual estimate is about three miles 
per hour, and by multiplying the number of hours by 
three, we can usually get at about the number of miles. 

From the high hills, far to the southward, we have a 
fine view of the lake El Huleh, which, in a direct line, is 
only about ten miles from the Sea of Galilee. This little 



224 The Old World — Palestine. 



lake is regarded by some as the head waters of the Jor- 
dan, as it receives from large springs immediately sur- 
rounding it, and from several small streams, the waters 
which afterward form the Jordan, and this is the only 
river flowing from this lake. Others trace the source of 
the Jordan to springs and streams still farther north ; but 
in this matter, as in many others concerning Palestine, 
each tourist is privileged to exercise his own whim or 
judgment. 

This lake of El Huleh is called, in the Old Testament, 
" the waters of Merom," and is celebrated chiefly from 
the defeat of the confederate kings of Canaan by Joshua, 
on its borders. The record says : " And when all these 
kings were met together, they came and pitched together 
at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel. And 
the Lord said unto Joshua, Be not afraid because of them, 
for to-morrow about this time I will deliver them all slain 
before Israel : thou shalt hough their horses, and burn 
their chariots with fire. So Joshua came, and all the 
people of war with him, against them by the waters of 
Merom suddenly ; and they fell upon them. And the 
Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel, who smote 
them, and chased them unto Mizrephoth-maim, and unto 
the valley of Mizpeh eastward ; and they smote them, 
until they left them none remaining." 

This lake is not mentioned in the New Testament at 
all, from which we infer that Christ and his apostles 
never visited it. Josephus calls it the Lake Samochonites, 
which appears to be a Greek rendering of the native 
name Samaco, which it bears in the Jerusalem Talmud. 
But in the same Talmud it is sometimes called " the Sea 
of Cobebo," while the Babylonian Talmud names it " the 
Sibbechean Sea." Its dimensions are about eight miles 
long by four in breadth, though one-half of its upper end 



Desolate Places. 



225 



is but little, if anything, more than a marsh, covered 
with tall reeds. The banks of the lake are very low ; 
but the lake itself is on a considerably higher level than 
the Lake of Tiberias, and for this cause, together with the 
narrow and rocky character of its channel, the Jordan 
flows from Lake Huleh to Lake Tiberias with consider- 
able rapidity and noise. The lake abounds in fish, and its 
south-western shore bears the name of Melaba, from the 
ground being covered with a saline crust. 

The valley in which this little lake is located is broad, 
and seems to be quite fertile. We notice, as we pass 
along, fourteen cow and young steer teams ploughing 
on one piece of ground ; though, if all they did in a day 
were added together, it would not amount to as much as 
one plough and a pair of horses would do in the same time 
in America. Their plough is nothing more than a sharp- 
ened stick, which tears up the ground about four inches 
wide, as it is pulled along by the cows ; and we notice 
that for every hour they work they seem to rest about two. 
A more indolent, lazy set of creatures than these Syrians 
never existed, and but for the necessities of nature not one 
of them would do a stroke of work from one year's end to 
another. 

Near where we encamp is a fine fountain, from which 
flows a large body of water, quite sufficient to turn the 
two stones of an old mill, situated some ten feet below the 
pond formed from the waters of the fountain. And as 
this mill of Malaha is one of the institutions of Syria, and 
evidently regarded by its owners, or those who tend it, as 
a little superior to any other mill in the world, we cannot 
do better than spend a few moments in describing it. 

Its walls are of stone, one story high, and about two feet 
and a half thick — its size, say 20 by 40 feet. It has two 
run of stone, the lower ones stationary, while each of the 



226 The Old World — Palestine. 



upper ones rests upon a wooden centre-post, ten feet long, 
with the lower end of the post pointed with iron and rest- 
ing on a stone at the bottom of the waste-weir. In the 
posts, below the mill floor and near the water, are wooden 
arms, which look much like the spokes of a wagon wheel, 
only a little broader. The water, which comes through 
a narrow sluice-way above, dashes against these spokes 
or arms in its rapid rush outward, and thus the stones, 
which are affixed to the posts above the floor, are turned. 
This is all the machinery there is about the mill — not a 
wheel, cog or strap is anywhere to be found. 

The three men who show and explain to us the opera- 
tions of the mill, and who eyidently take great pride in 
doing so, as if we had never looked upon its equal before, 
first turn on the water, then take hold of the stone and give 
it a start, and then, with folded arms, gaze upon the slowly 
revolving stone as if it were the most wonderful of man's 
inventions. 

Of course we say tieb I tieb ! (good, good) , and thank 
them for the pains they have taken to show and explain to 
us the operations of their mill, though scarcely suppress- 
ing a laugh, not only at the simplicity of their mill, but at 
the men who tend upon it and admire it so much. 

When it is recollected that this is found in a country 
which had reached its highest civilization more than 
twenty-five hundred years before ours was discovered, the 
retrograding of this people and the rapid advancement of 
our own will be duly appreciated. 

Next morning we leave the Mill Malaha and cross the 
plain of El Huleh at its western end. The many small 
streams which flow from the hills to the plain make the 
ground soft and marshy, and difficult to cross. Several 
times our horses mire so deep that we fear for their and 
our safety ; but finally we get across the marsh safely and 



Desolate Places. 



227 



reach a dark ravine, where the Hasbeiyah river comes 
down from the mountains of Lebanon, and passing up this 
ravine some distance, we reach an ancient bridge of a 
single arch, through which the waters of the Hasbeivah 
dash furiously onward and downward. Here we lunch, 
and while lunching we observe on the other side of the 
stream quite a cavalcade about to move forward. It con- 
sists of about a hundred Mohammedans, who have been to 
the tomb of a sheikh, on a mountain opposite, to hold a 
festival. They are dressed in holiday attire, are of both 
sexes and of all ages, and seem in the best of humor w r ith 
themselves and the rest of mankind. 

Crossing the old bridge, we pass through groves of oaks 
and olives, and in about one hour thereafter we find our- 
selves at Banias, the ancient Caesarea Philippi. 

Here we order our tents pitched ; but as the sun is still 
high in the heavens, we conclude, before dismounting, to 
visit the ruins on the summit of the mountain, immedi- 
ately behind the town. 

This summit is probably a thousand feet above Banias, 
and to reach it we ascend a narrow, rocky path, which, at 
times, is difficult, if not dangerous, to both horse and rider. 
The north-eastern side of the hill, far up toward the ruins, 
is terraced and planted with olive trees, which have evi- 
dently, at one time, been nurtured with great care and have 
yielded abundantly. 

The ruins of the castle of Banias, or Suibeh, or, as it is 
sometimes called, Khulet-el-Banias, look grand and im- 
posing as we see them from the valley below and as we 
approach them from the hillside ; but once within, we 
find nothing but an immense mass of stones, piled one 
upon the other, with scarcely a trace of their former beauty 
remaining. We find one large cistern cut in the rock and 
arched over with pointed arches, and near this a large 



228 The Old World— Palestine. 



arched passage-way, with rooms contiguous ; and at the 
south-western and north-eastern corners are the remains of 
large and strong towers, but beyond this all is inextricable 
confusion. A portion of the outer wall remains, which 
bears evidence of having once possessed great strength as 
a means of defence ; and the wonder is how, in those early 
days, without the use of gunpowder, a castle so defended 
could have been taken at all except by siege. And yet 
history informs us that it was taken and retaken, time and 
again, during the wars which in early and more recent 
periods swept over this part of Palestine. 

The eastern end of the ridge, on which the castle is 
located, is the highest, and this was taken advantage of 
by the projectors to form an upper citadel commanding 
the rest of the castle. It is separated from the lower west- 
ern portion by a regular interior cross-wall, with towers 
and trench, and is without entrance or approach except 
through the lower fortress. Here, more than anywhere 
else, the beetling towers and ramparts impend over the 
northern precipice and look down into the chasm of Wady 
Khushabeh, six or seven hundred feet below. Within this 
citadel are the loftiest and strongest towers, and this por- 
tion is the best preserved of all. Not less than one-third 
of it is ancient beveled work, exhibiting a better and more 
finished bevel than is perhaps to be found elsewhere out 
of Jerusalem. 

The Saracens and Crusaders while in possession of 
this castle made, Dr. Robinson says, no additions to the 
fortress. They did nothing in the citadel but patch up a 
few portions of it where this was necessary for defence, 
leaving all the rest as they found it. Their repairs are 
easily to be distinguished from other parts of the work. 
Nor did they do much more in the lower or western part ; 
though there are quite a number of Arabic inscriptions, 



Desolate Places. 



229 



mostly dated A. H. 625, equivalent to A. D. 1227, re- 
counting that such and such a prince, with a long pedi- 
gree, built up this or that tower at a certain time. 

"The whole fortress," adds Dr. Robinson, "made upon 
us a deep impression of antiquity and strength, and of 
the immense amount of labor and expense employed in 
its construction. It has come down to us as one of the 
most perfect specimens of the military architecture of the 
Phoenicians, or possibly of the Syro-Grecians ; and who- 
ever will make himself acquainted with the resources 
and prowess of those ancient nations, must not fail to 
study the ruins of this noble fortress." 

The view from the ruins is very fine, extending over 
the plain of El Huleh, and far beyond to Mount Tabor 
and Gilboa. At our feet lies Banias, surrounded by olive 
orchards, with the waters of the great fountain rushing 
furiously at its side; whiie, looking northward and 
eastward, mountain upon mountain rises grandly and 
gloriously in view. Crossing some of these mountains 
afterward, however, we find that " distance lent enchant- 
ment to the view," and that, once face to face, they are 
quite as rugged and uninviting as many others we had 
seen in the more southern parts of Palestine. 

The town of Banias itself is small, poorly built, with 
rough streets, and does not contain, we should think, over 
five hundred inhabitants. That it has been a place of 
importance, however, is evidenced from the ruins on the 
outer edge of the town, some of which are still quite im- 
posing. Its chief attraction consists in the magnificent 
fountain, which gushes out at the base of a hill near the 
town. The waters come out from a space probably a 
hundred feet in width, and, flowing to a common centre, 
form a stream sufficiently large to turn the largest mill in 
America. Soon after issuing from the fountain the 



230 The Old World — Palestine. 



waters commence a rapid descent, and go dashing and 
foaming over the rocks below at a most furious rate. A 
large excavation has been made in the rock under the 
hill, immediately above where the waters issue, and 011 
each side of this are sculptured niches in which sylvan 
deities have some time stood. 

While the Greeks occupied Syria, this cave or grotto 
was made a sanctuary in which they worshiped their 
sylvan deity, Pan ; and some portions of the temple built 
near this by Herod the Great, in honor of Augustus, still 
remain. 

The town is of very ancient date, and possesses some 
historical and biblical interest. By the Greeks it was 
called Panias, and this name it continued to bear until 
Philip the Tetrarch enlarged and beautified the place and 
named it Cassarea Philippi. Afterward it was called 
Neronias, in honor of the tyrant Nero. Still later it 
resumed the old name of Cassarea Philippi ; and such 
was its importance during the occupancy of Syria by the 
Romans that Titus selected this place in which to cele- 
brate triumphant games after the conquest of Jerusalem. 
How many of his Jewish prisoners destroyed each other 
while fighting as gladiators for the amusement of the 
people is not stated, but probably a great number. Dur- 
ing the time of the Crusades it became the north-eastern 
key of the Holy Land, and here were fought several of 
the fiercest and bloodiest battles between Christians and 
Mohammedans. It finally fell before the superior forces 
of Salah-e'deen, and has ever since remained in the pos- 
session of the Turks. 

The history of this place during the Crusades is thus 
epitomized by Dr. Robinson : " It first came into the 
possession of the Christians in A.D. 11 29 or 1130, along 



Desolate Places. 



231 



with the tbrtress of Es-Subeibeh on the mountain ; being 
delivered over to them by its Ishmaelite governor after 
their unsuccessful attempt upon Damascus in behalf of 
that sect. The city and castle were given as a fief to the 
Knight Rayner Brus. In A.D. 1132, during the absence 
of Rayner, Banias was taken after a short assault by the 
Sultan Isma'il of Damascus. It was recaptured by the 
Franks, aided by the Damascenes themselves, in A.D. 
1 139 ; the temporal control restored to Rayner Brus, and 
the city made a Latin bishopric under the jurisdiction of the 
archbishop of Tyre. Banias fell afterward by inheritance 
info the possession of the Constable Houfroy, who called 
in the aid of the Hospitalers for its protection ; in A.D. 
1 157 it was besieged by the formidable Neireddin, who 
succeeded in taking and burning the town, but was not 
able to master the fortress situated in the city itself. The 
place was relieved and the fortifications immediately 
rebuilt by King Baldwin III. But in A.D. 1165, Nei- 
reddin again attacked Banias during the absence of 
Houfroy, and with better success ; after a short siege it 
surrendered, and never came again into the power of the 
Franks. In A.D. 1 172, King Almaric besieged Banias 
for fifteen days in vain. The place, with others, was 
dismantled by Sultan Mu'adh-dhem in A.D. 1219. The 
Christians once more, in A.D. 1253, made an expedition 
from Tyre against Banias, under the command of Senes- 
chal Joinville, and got possession of the town for the 
moment ; but not being able to subdue Kul-at-es-Subeibeh 
on the mountain, they immediately abandoned their con- 
quest and retired to Sidon." 

But its greatest interest to the Christian tourist is, 
that Jesus, during his pilgrimage on earth, once honored 
it with his presence ; and here occurred that memorable 
conversation between the Saviour and his disciples, in 
20 



232 The Old World — Palestine. 



which he firut acknowledged himself in his true character 
as " the Christ, the Son of the living God." 

The record reads, " When Jesus came into the coasts 
of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom 
do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, 
Some say thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, and 
others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He saith unto 
them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter 
answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the 
living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, 
Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona ; for flesh and blood 
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in 
heaven." 

It is thought by some, that inasmuch as the records of 
the sublime mystery of Christ's transfiguration occurred 
immediately after this, it may have occurred at this place, 
but we can find no evidence to confirm this opinion. 
The fact that the transfiguration did not occur until six 
days after this conversation with his disciples, and that it 
occurred on a " high mountain," points, we think, more 
probably to Mount Tabor, or possibly to the Mount of 
Olives ; and the argument used against the former of 
these places, that its summit was built upon at the time, 
has but little weight, we think, since the transfiguration 
may have taken place upon either of its slopes as well as 
upon its summit Since the record does not give the 
precise spot, and since so many places in Palestine claim 
the distinction, each tourist is left free to fix it where his 
own best judgment may direct. 

We have now reached the farthest point northward to 
which the footsteps of Jesus ever led him, so far as we 
have any knowledge from the Sacred Volume. We have 
visited the place of his birth at Bethlehem ; the place of 
his early childhood and boyhood and manhood at Naz- 



Desolate Places. 



233 



areth ; the places where he spent three years and upward 
in teaching in the synagogues, healing the sick, walking 
upon the waves, and bidding the winds and the waters 
" be still," along the shores of the Sea of Galilee ; the 
place of his baptism in the river Jordan, and the wilder- 
ness in which he fasted for forty days and forty nights ; 
the places where he called back to life the widow's son, 
raised Lazarus from the grave, and gave to blind Bar- 
timeus his sight ; the place where in agony of spirit he 
prayed, and sweat, as it were, great drops of blood ; the 
places where he was betrayed, where he was cruelly 
crucified, and where he was laid in the new-made tomb ; 
and the place, too, where he burst the bonds of death 
asunder and arose triumphant from the grave ! 

From henceforth we shall no longer follow his earthly 
footsteps ; but God grant that we may be able to follow 
him in a spiritual sense more closely than ever heretofore. 



ft 



CHAPTER XII. 



AMONG THE DRUSES. 



ROM Caesarea Philippi (Banias) our course lies 



A over the mountain, and the paths here, as elsewhere 
in Syria, are horrible, though somewhat relieved by the 
glimpse of valleys we get in the distance, and the occa- 
sional ones we cross. 

All the forenoon we ride within close view of the 
snow-capped Hermon, and on reaching the summit of 
the mountain opposite, the winds become so strong and 
cold that we are obliged to put on shawls and over- 
coats. And at lunch-time so cold are the winds that we 
seek the shelter of a friendly r^ck to protect us from the 
blasts while we lunch and take rest. 

About 2 P.M. we reach Beit-jin ("the abode of an 
evil spirit," as translated in English), a considerable vil- 
lage, situated at the head of a deep valley or gorge, and 
occupied principally by Moslems, though in the heart of 
the Druse country. Before descending the steep hill 
which leads down to the village, two Druses with guns 
on their shoulders come up to us and seem disposed to 
be very chatty ; but having heard of the murderous dis- 
position of these disciples of the crazy Kalif El-Hakim, 
we keep a close eye upon them, and give them to under- 
stand that we are fully prepared to protect ourselves in 




234 



Among the Druses. 



235 



case of necessity. They trot along beside our horses for 
about a mile, and then finding they can get no bucksheesh 
from us, either through fear or favor, they suddenly dis- 
appear. 

As this is our first acquaintance with the Druses, and 
as they are regarded as the most singular, most courage- 
ous, and most warlike body of men in Syria, we cannot 
do better than devote a few moments to their history and 
peculiarities of character as a people. 

Everything belonging to this singular little nation is 
calculated to excite curiosity and interest — its manners 
and customs, its bravery, its rare stability of character, 
and, above all, the mystery that has so long hung over its 
moral history, and which has only begun to be penetrated 
within a very few years past. Even at this day it is not 
easy to speak positively and precisely of the Druse doc- 
trines ; and though some of their religious books found 
their way long ago into Europe, and several of them 
fell into the hands of the Egyptian soldiery during the 
last insurrections against the authority of Mohammed 
Ali, these have not fulfilled the hopes founded upon them 
of arriving at a complej^ knowledge of the principles 
and practice of the Druse religion. 

The Druses occupy the southern portion of Lebanon, 
the western slopes of Anti-Lebanon, and the Jebel Sheik. 
There are thirty-seven large towns and villages in Leba- 
non inhabited solely by Druses, and two hundred and 
eleven villages of Druses mingled with Christians. In 
Anti-Lebanon there are sixty-nine villages or towns 
belonging exclusively to the Druses ; and there are several 
others having a mixed population of Druses, Maronites, 
and schismatic Greeks. 

Ammatur and Bachlin in Lebanon, Hasbya, and Ry- 
sheya in Anti-Lebanon, are capitals as it were, regarded 
20* 



236 



The Old World — Palestine. 



by the Druses in the same light as Jerusalem was by the 
Jews, and Samaria by the kingdom of Israel. Each of 
these towns is a rallying-point for the nation, and pos- 
sesses a religious edifice (khalueh), in which are deposited 
their sacred books and their war standards. 

In the last century five hundred or six hundred Druse 
families withdrew to the mountains of the Haouran, on 
the borders of the desert. This emigration began in the 
year 1 757? tne same m which the civil wars began of 
Sheikh Omar-el-Daher. 

Like all the other races of Syria, the Druses are dis- 
tinguishable by a peculiar cast of features : the people 
of the country recognize a Druse, a Metuali, etc., at the 
first glance, as easily as the children in our streets do a 
Jew. The physiognomy of the Druse is noble, grave, 
and sometimes even characterized by an expression of 
high spirit, not untinctured with ferocity. " Haughty, 
sanguinary, and vindictive by nature, they conceal these 
defects," says Perrier, " under an exquisite suavity of 
demeanor, and they fairly compensate for them by their 
unbounded hospitality, generosity, and loftiness of soul. 
Their code of morals is extremely rigid, and the greatest 
good faith prevails in their mutual dealings ; their word, 
once passed, becomes a sacred oath as binding as the 
most solemn legal contract. No people are more nice 
than they upon the point of honor ; with them the least 
insult is instantly requited with the khanjar or the rifle ; 
whereas, among the people of the plains, it only pro- 
vokes abusive retorts. From this delicate susceptibility 
has arisen among them that politeness of manner which 
a gentleman, with the prejudices of his European educa- 
tion not yet modified by much contact with Orientals, is 
astonished to discover among peasants. It is carried even 
to dissimulation and falsehood, especially among the 



Among the Druses. 



237 



chiefs, whose greater interests demand a greater wariness 
of speech and conduct. Circumspection is imperatively 
requisite where retaliation is so prompt and so formid- 
able." 

We must not omit stating per contra that, according 
to Burckhardt, the Druse is thus nice only in the defence 
of his public honor, and that he will tamely submit to 
injurious treatment, and even to blows, if there be no 
witnesses of his disgrace. The Syrians, too, say that the 
good faith observed by the Druses, as regards each other, 
does not govern them in their transactions with men of 
other sects, toward whom their religion teaches them it is 
no sin to violate the most solemn engagements. But both ' 
these assertions appear exaggerated and to need further 
investigation. 

Though the Druses inhabit many villages in common 
with the Christians, they have little intercourse with the 
latter, never enter into family alliances with them, and 
hold them in sovereign contempt. Still, the outward 
harmony between the two classes is seldom disturbed by 
any open broils. The Druses despise the Franks ; and 
the worst insult one Druse can offer to another is the 
exclamation, " May God put a hat on you !" Yet 
these very people are unbounded in their kindness to the 
Frank stranger w T ho claims their hospitality. Their 
national character is, in truth, a compound of seemingly 
contradictory principles, and cannot be fairly estimated 
from the hasty inductions travelers have drawn from 
partial observation or hearsay. A general disregard of 
religious observances w r ould naturally render the Druses 
hateful to fanatics of all persuasions ; and, surrounded as 
they are on every side by zealous professors of other 
creeds, it cannot excite surprise that they should be made 
the subjects of misrepresentation and calumny. 



2 3 8 



The Old World — Palestine. 



These men carry the virtue of hospitality to a romantic 
pitch. Whoever presents himself at their doors as a sup- 
pliant or a wayfarer is sure of being entertained with lodg- 
ing and food in the most generous and unaffected manner. 
" I have often," says Volney, " seen the lowest peasants 
give the last morsel of bread they had in their houses to 
the hungry traveler ; and when I observed to them that 
they wanted prudence, their answer was, ' God is bounti- 
ful and great, and all men are brethren.'" When they 
have once contracted with their guest the sacred engage- 
ment of bread and salt, no subsequent event can make 
them violate it. Many instances of this are related to 
their honor. An aga of the Janissaries having been 
engaged in a rebellion toward the close of the eighteenth 
century, fled from Damascus and retired among the 
Druses. The pasha was informed of this and demanded 
him of the emir, threatening to make war on the latter 
in case of refusal. The emir demanded him of the sheikh 
Talhook who had received him ; but the latter indignantly 
replied, " When have you known the Druses deliver up 
their guests ? Tell the emir that as long as Talhook 
shall preserve his beard, not a hair of the head of his 
suppliant shall fall." The emir threatened him with 
force : Talhook armed his family. The emir, dreading 
a revolt, adopted a method practiced as juridical in this 
country : he declared to the sheikh that he would cut 
down fifty of his mulberry trees daily until the aga were 
given up. He proceeded as far as a thousand, and Tal- 
hook still remained inflexible. At length, the other 
sheikhs became incensed and took up the quarrel, and 
the commotion was about to become general, when the 
aga, reproaching himself with being the cause of so much 
mischief, made his escape without the knowledge even 
of Talhook. 



Among the Druses. 239 



The Druses have long been divided into numerous fac- 
tions, often at war with each other, but which always 
unite when there is a common foe to fight. When war is 
resolved on, every man, whether sheikh or peasant, able 
to bear arms, is called on to march. He takes with him a 
little bag of flour, a musket, some bullets, and a small quan- 
tity of powder, and repairs to the appointed rendezvous. 
If it be a civil war, each man rallies around the standard 
of his chief. A strict spirit of clanship prevails in Syria, 
and, above all. in Lebanon, among the Druses. The 
father bequeaths his opinions and his party to his son ; 
and there is hardly an example of a Maronite or a Druse 
espousing a quarrel or adopting a party other than that 
of his ancestors. In civil feuds the incensed adversaries 
often seem on the point of proceeding to the last extremi- 
ties, but thev seldom engage in mortal strife ; mediators 
always interpose, and the quarrel is appeased the more 
readily as each patron is obliged to provide his followers 
with provisions and ammunition. 

The gathering of the clans, as described by Volney, an 
eye-witness, forcibly reminds one of the speeding of the 
fiery cross, in former days, along the braes and glens of 
Scotland. "When," says he, "the emir and sheikhs had 
determined on war at Deir-el-Kammar, criers went up at 
night to the summits of the cliff, and cried aloud, ' To 
war : to war ! Take your guns — take your pistols ! Noble 
sheikhs, mount your horses — arm yourselves with the lance 
and the sabre — rendezvous to-morrow at Deir-el-Kammar. 
Zeal of God ! Zeal of combats !' This summons, heard in 
the neighboring villages, was repeated there ; and as the 
whole country is nothing but a chain of lofty mountains 
and deep valleys, the proclamation passed through its 
length and breadth in a few hours. These cries, from 
the stillness of the night, the long, resounding echoes, and 



1 



240 The Old World — Palestine. 



the nature of the subject, had something awful and terrible 
in their effect. Three days after, fifteen thousand armed 
men were assembled at Deir-el-Kammar, and operations 
might have been immediately commenced." 

The clannish disposition of this people, and their hered- 
itary feuds, make them averse to forming matrimonial alli- 
ances out of their own families. They invariably prefer 
their relations, though poor, to a rich stranger ; and poor 
peasants have been known to refuse their daughters to 
wealthy and thriving merchants of Beyrout. They ob- 
serve, also, to a certain extent, the custom of the He- 
brews, which directed that a brother should wed his 
brother's widow ; but this is not peculiar to them, but one 
of many ancient usages which they retain, in common 
with other inhabitants of Syria and all the Arab tribes. 

The Druses take but one wife. Their young men 
usually marry at the age of sixteen or eighteen, and the 
girls at thirteen or fourteen. Three days before that fixed 
for the celebration of the marriage, the bridegroom, ac- 
companied by some young men of his own age, all well 
armed, proceeds formally to demand his bride at the hand 
of her father, who awaits the party, armed caf-a-j)ie, on 
the threshold of his door ; and there gives his final sanc- 
tion .to the conditions of the contract. The young man 
fixes the dowry (maahr) to be settled by him on his in- 
tended, and promises her family that he will render her 
happy. The betrothed girl appears for a -moment, but 
closely veiled, and accompanied by some female rela- 
tions and by her mother, who guarantees the unblemished 
honor of her child. Upon this the young man pops the 
question to the fair one herself, who replies ueble tak (I 
accept you), presenting him, at the same time, with a 
khanjar (a broad and slightly curved dagger) sewed up 
in a red and white handkerchief, or kefieh, generally of 



Among the Druses. 



241 



wool, and wrought with her own hands. The khanjar is 
a token of the protection she expects from her husband ; 
but it is likewise the instrument destined to expiate her 
guilt if she has trifled with her maiden honor, or if she 
ever violate her marriage troth, or even fail in her duty 
as an obedient and duteous wife. 

All parties then enter the house ; the bride afterward 
proceeds slowly to the bath, where she spends the day 
with her companions, whilst the men mount their horses 
and amuse themselves with their favorite games, or re- 
main smoking- and drinking coffee in the house of the 
bride's father : the same ceremony is twice repeated. On 
the wedding-night, the women conduct the bridegroom 
to the nuptial-chamber, where the bride awaits him 
covered from head to foot with a red veil spangled with 
gold : removing this, he presents her with the tantoor (a 
sort of skull-cap) and places it on her head, where it is 
to remain for the rest of her life. The moment the hus- 
band snatches off the veil, the women run out of the 
room screaming, or rather gabbling very like turkeys. 
This is the signal for the commencement of a tremendous 
uproar in the house : the women never leave off scream- 
ing and gabbling in their own apartment for several 
hours, and the men assembled in another room perform 
the dance of arms. They caper about and put them- 
selves into all sorts of ludicrous attitudes, clashing their 
sabres or their yataghans together, and feigning to be in 
a towering passion. All this hubbub is made to drive 
away the jins and the evil spirits, who are thought to be 
particularly busy about the house on such occasions. 

••Every Druse," says Burckhardt, " possesses an ab- 
solute and uncontrolled power to repudiate his wife on 
paying the stipulated dowry ; nothing can be simpler than 
the form of pronouncing her divorce ; it is enough that 



242 The Old World — Palestine. 



the husband show her the door and say, ' Go !' Nay, if a 
wife asks permission of her husband to make a visit to her 
relations, and he grants it without adding an injunction 
to her to return, even that omission is tantamount to a 
divorce." But, notwithstanding this facility, divorces are 
not frequent among the Druses, and hardly ever occur 
without grave reasons. The woman who is convicted of 
conjugal infidelity is invariably punished with death — not 
by her husband, who only sends her back to her relations 
with the khanjar he received from her when they married 
— but by her relations themselves ; her guilt reflects shame 
not on him, but on them, for dishonor follows the line of 
blood, say the Druses, and does not devolve on a man or 
on a family of other blood. The khanjar sent back with- 
out its sheath apprises the family of their disgrace. Upon 
this the father and the brother of the guilty woman assem- 
ble at the husband's house to investigate the case. If 
proofs be wanting, the husband's oath is held sufficient ; 
the relations, on their return home, put the unhappy 
woman to death. Usually they cut off her head, and send 
her tantoor to her husband with a lock of her hair dyed in 
her blood, as a proof that justice has had its course. The 
more a father loves his daughter the less hope she can 
have of pardon. "An execution," says Perrier, " of this 
kind took place in 1839, m a sma ^ Druse village near 
Jeyzin. The victim, who was hardly fourteen years of 
age, was put to death in a council of her kindred ; her 
eldest brother was her executioner. Her mother and sis- 
ters, shut up in an adjoining apartment, in vain appealed 
for mercy with shrieks of despair ; nothing could soften 
the inexorable brothers, not even the pardon granted by 
the aged father of the culprit. As for the accomplice of 
her guilt, he instantly disappeared and was never more 
heard of. The rumor was industriously propagated that 



Among the Druses. 



243 



he had fled to Turkey to escape the chastisement of a 
severe bastinado, to which he had made himself liable ; 
but the neighbors and the inhabitants of the village were 
not deceived by this report. They knew that the torrents 
that roll near Jeyzin are deep, and that the caverns of the 
mountains are mute as the grave." 

Death is likewise the fate of the unmarried girl who has 
forfeited her honor ; in this case only the father may grant 
forgiveness, if he has no other children ; brothers are 
always implacable. The pashas and governors of Syria 
cautiously abstain from interfering with the right assumed 
by families thus to avenge the jealous honor of their blood. 

The Druses are perhaps the only people who do not 
love music, vocal or instrumental. Rarely, if ever, is the 
ballad, or legendary song, or mountain air heard in their 
cottages or at their festivals. They have no sort of mu- 
sical instruments, and they march to battle without trum- 
pet, pipe or song. Their pleasures are very simple ; in 
the evening they sometimes assemble in the court-yard or 
house of the chief of the village or family. " There," says 
Volney, " seated in a circle, with legs crossed, pipes in their 
mouths and poniards in their belts, they discourse of their 
various labors, the scarcity or plenty of their harvests, peace 
or war, the conduct of the emir, or the amount of the taxes ; 
they relate past transactions, discuss present interests and 
form conjectures on the future. Their children, tired with 
play, come frequently to listen ; and a stranger is surprised 
to hear them, at ten or twelve years old, recounting, with 
a serious air, why Djezzar declared war against the Emir 
Yousef, how many purses it cost that prince, what aug- 
mentation there will be of the miri, how many muskets 
there were in the camp, and who had the best mare." 
This was written sixty years ago. There are other per- 
sons and things than Djezzar and his wars to talk of in 
21 



244 The Old World — Palestine. 



the mountains at the present day ; but, making .allowance 
for such changes, the general truth of the picture remains 
unaltered. 

Like many other heterodox sects subjected to Moslem 
sway, the Druses found it expedient from the very first, 
and, indeed, necessary to their self-preservation, to stoop 
to dissimulation. They have express warrant for this in 
their religious books, which say, " Embrace the religion 
of those who have power over you ; for such is the pleas- 
ure of our Maoula, till he to whom the best times are 
known shall unsheath the sword and display the power 
of his unity." Acting on this principle, the Druses affect 
in public to speak well of all religions. Outwardly, they 
are professors of Islamism, and they perform all the rites 
prescribed by it whenever they mix with Mohammedans. 
In private, however, they break the fast of the Ramadan, 
curse Mohammed, indulge in wine, and eat food forbid- 
den by the Kur-an. Some of them feign a great venera- 
tion for Kadra Mariana, the Virgin Mary, in order to 
gain favor with their Christian neighbors. If you press 
them closely to tell you what are their real notions of re- 
ligion, their answer is invariably, " God alone sounds the 
depths of the heart of the believers in his law ; but men 
may be deceived by outward appearances." 

It is almost superfluous to remark of men so indifferent 
as to religious matters that they evince no disposition to 
make proselytes. But if they do not seek to spread their 
tenets through other lands, they are yet persuaded that 
numbers of their co-religionists exist, unknown, in various 
countries of the world, above all, in China ! There are 
ackals, they say, in the mountains of Scotland as sage 
and pure as any in Lebanon ; only their European breth- 
ren are compelled by the fear of persecution to assume 
the outward appearance of Christianity, as they them- 



Among the Druses. 245 



selves do those of Mohammedanism. From the descrip- 
tion they give of the habits and practices of these sup- 
posed Druses of the West, more especially of their man- 
ner of burying the dead, it seems evident that they allude 
to the order of the Templars, which they believe still to 
exist in jfebel-el-Scouzia, the Scottish Highlands. 

Some among them even lay claim to a European origin, 
and pretend to be descended from the French. The 
agents of the French government availed themselves of 
this notion with considerable effect during the troubles 
that immediately preceded the expulsion of the Egyp- 
tians from Syria by the allied forces. The prevalence of 
this opinion among Europeans, and its eager adoption by 
the Druses, is accounted for in the following way : 

The renowned Druse Fakr-ed-Deen, in whose family 
the supreme chieftainship was vested, ruled over the 
mountain tribes during the early part of the seventeenth 
century. He at length extended his sway throughout the 
whole district between Tripoli and Sidon ; and it was 
only after a long and successful career, during which he 
introduced a great degree of civilization into the moun- 
tains, that he fell at last a victim to the jealousy of the 
Ottoman government. His family soon afterward became 
extinct, and the Shehab were elected, by popular consent, 
to succeed it. 

When threatened by a formidable armament sent 
against him by the Porte, Fakr-ed-Deen, who had formed 
connections at the court of the Medici in Florence, re- 
paired thither in person to solicit aid. The arrival of an 
Oriental prince in Italy did not fail to attract the public 
attention, and the origin of the Druses became a popular 
topic of research. The conclusion was speedily arrived 
at that a people who had taken refuge in the mountains, 
and who were hostile to the Mohammedans, could be no 



246 The Old World— Palestine. 



other than the offspring of the Crusaders. Fakr-ed-Deen, 
seeing how favorable to his views was this idle conceit, 
took care to encourage it, and was artful enough to pre- 
tend that he was related to the house of Lorraine. The 
learned in etymology, struck with the resemblance of the 
names, insisted that Druse and Dreux must be the same 
word ; and on this foundation they built their system of a 
pretended colony of French Crusaders, who, under the 
conduct of a Comte de Dreux, had formed a settlement 
in Lebanon. This hypothesis, however, is completely 
refuted by the fact that the name of the Druses is to be 
found in the Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela, who trav- 
eled before the time of the Crusaders. 

"The truth is," says Lord Lindsay, "you meet with 
traces of the Franks and reminiscences of the Crusaders 
everywhere in Syria : but while the Bekaris, or descend- 
ants of Abubekr, are still flourishing in Damascus, as 
well as the houses of many of the companions of Mo- 
hammed, the descendants of the great Syrio-Norman 
families have sunk generally into mere fellahs, or culti- 
vating Arabs. Some few- exceptions there ma}- be. A 
Frank traveler some years ago discovered, on examining 
a bundle of old parchments in the possession of a village 
sheikh, that the owner was -the descendant of one of the 
oldest crusading families in France. Ignorance would 
have been bliss in this case, poor old man ! He started 
forth on a pilgrimage to Paris, and got as far as Alexan- 
dria ; but falling ill there, and other obstructions being 
cast in his way by a kind Providence, he returned to his 
own village, Gausta, and was living there in extreme old 
age in the year 1835. 

The founder of the Druse religion was the Caliph 
Hakim-Bi-Amr- Allah, the third of the Fatimites, who 
became caliph of Cairo in the year of the Hegira 386, or 



Among the Druses. 247 

A. D. 996, when little more than a child. His reign was 
distinguished by the most ridiculous extravagances ; he 
forbade women ever to go out of doors, and prohibited 
workmen from making any kind of foot-gear for their 
use, on pain of death ; all the necessary supplies were to 
be conveyed to them through loopholes in the walls by 
means of long poles, so that none might ever see them. 
Not content with these follies, the caliph chose to make 
himself God, and he gave orders that public registers 
should be opened for the purpose of enrolling the names 
of all who were willing to recognize his divinity. Fear 
or adulation filled the registers in a few days with sixteen 
thousand names ; whereupon the madman proclaimed 
himself an incarnation of God and the founder of a new 
religion, which was altogether to supersede that of Mo- 
hammed. At last, after an execrable reign of four-and- 
twenty years, he was murdered by his minister, Hamzi, 
who became the continuator of the religion begun by 
Bi-Amr-Allah, and changed that name, which signifies 
governing by order of God, into Hakim-Bi-Amri, gov- 
erning by his own order. 

The succeeding caliphs persecuted those who were 
stupid enough to believe in the divine character of such 
a monster. Several of the sect fled to Syria, and there 
they propagated their doctrines, and soon became a strong 
and bold people. The ground, in fact, was already pre- 
pared to receive the seed they cast upon it. The mystical 
doctrines of Hakim Burka, " the Veiled Prophet of 
Khorassan" (A.D. 771), and those of Karmath (A.D. 
891), had already been widely spread in Syria, and had 
formed a fit basis for the superstructure of transcendental 
folly reared by the founders of many sects now existing 
in this country. Much as the Druses, Metualis, Anzeyrys, 

Tsmeylis, Yezidis, etc., differ from each other, still there 
21* 



2 4 8 



The Old World — Palestine. 



is a family resemblance pervading their habits and ways 
of thinking, as well as those, too, of the terrible Assas- 
sins, that clearly points to a common origin. But to the 
honor of the Druses be it said, their mysticism, however 
extravagant, has not carried them, like some of the other 
sects, to the horrible excess of abrogating the moral law. 
The Karmathians are a sort of Oriental Muggletonians, 
who hold that faith and knowledge raise men above all 
distinctions of right and wrong, and the Anzeyrys appear 
fully to have embraced that opinion ; not so the Druses, 
whose moral character, all things considered, is deserving 
of high praise. 

The leading doctrines of Hakim Burka were the trans- 
migration of souls and the unity of God ; but, at the same 
time, the transfusion of that sole godhead into the person 
of Adam the first man, into those of the prophets, and of 
many great men who had appeared at various epochs, 
and lastly into the person of him, Hakem, the last per- 
sonification of God. All this is nearly identical with the 
fundamental doctrines of the Druse creed ; and as Hamzi- 
Ben- Ahmed, the vizier of the impious Caireen Caliph, 
was a Persian, we are not unwarranted in supposing that 
he borrowed from Hakim Burka those notions which he 
suggested to his master, and on which he himself con- 
tinued to act after the violent death of the caliph. 

It is scarcely possible to arrive at a knowledge of the 
present tenets of the Druses ; several of their religious 
books have been translated by those into whose hands 
they were thrown by the chance of war ; but little can be 
learned from them, for they are full of cabalistic signs, 
broken sentences, and disjointed, unintelligible phrases. 
None but an ackal can ever disclose the mystery, but 
there are no religious traitors among them, and but one 
civil traitor, the Sheikh Shubleh Arriam, who took bribes 



Among the Druses. 



249 



of Ibrahim Pasha, and betrayed his brethren in the revolt 
of 1838, He, if still alive, might perhaps be induced to 
betray the secrets of the ackals. 

A few fragments from the Druse books, carefully trans- 
lated by Perrier, may not be uninteresting to the reader : 

" The god of the Druses desires not that his ackal chil- 
dren should weary themselves in his worship : he is alone 
glorious and luminous in himself, and he does not exact 
the toil and fatigue of his children. 

" This god, the ruler of the universe, is Alli-el-Allah 
(the supreme god) ; he was called also 

"But Alli-el-Allah vanquished the creator of the world, 
who is now only Adam the rebel. 

" Now this supreme god is likewise Melek (the sove- 
reign) Hakim-Bi-Amr- Allah, grand prince who was born 
in Egypt, etc., etc 

" Here is the transfusion, the transmigration of the god 
Bi-Amr- Allah ; here is the god Hamzi. Hamzi-Ben- 
Ahmed-el-Farsi (the Persian) was the vizier of the Caliph 
Hakim. During his reign, in Cairo, Melek-Bi-Amr- 
Allah had a subterranean passage made to the lake called 
El Gizeh. He then left this palace secretly, mounted on 
an ass, and appeared on a sudden issuing from the water 
with his ass. He announced to men that he thus trans- 
ported himself to different places, and that he was one 
day to appear in China ; accordingly all owned him as a 
god. 

" Now his vizier was Hamzi the Persian, the son of 
Ahmed. During the night the vizier strangled the god, 
and in the morning laid his garments on the waters of 
the lake El Gizeh. All the disciples of Hakim imme- 
diately hastened to the spot; but Hamzi said to them, 
Your god is gone ; await his return in peace and hope, for 
he will reappear at the great day. 



The Old World — Palestine. 



" Hakim and Hamzi built the great pyramids of Egypt ! 
Within those buildings there are secret places which they 
made the depositories of the laws and of the wisdom of 
all times. 

" All the prophets who have appeared on the earth, 
Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, etc., 
had all had but one same spirit, transmigrated from one 
body to the other." 

Each Druse family religiously preserves and transmits 
from father to son what is called the "purse of the faith." 
This is a small sum of money carefully sealed up, which 
is to serve as a token of recognition on the transmigration 
of the soul of the head of the family to another body. 
Should a Druse return to life after several successive 
transmigrations, he could prove his identity and make 
himself known as a true believer by means of the purse 
of the faith. When families divide, the son selected by 
the father (usually the eldest son) succeeds to the sacred 
purse, which he is forbidden to open even in his most 
urgent need. The purse must always be transmitted in a 
direct line to the individual who is regarded as the head 
of the family. During the revolt of Houran there were 
found some of these purses that had been thus sealed up 
in parchment for hundreds of years, without ever having 
been opened. 

The other children of the deceased receive each a small 
black stone of jet or agate, in token of hope, union, and 
recognition. The stone is rudely carved into the form of 
some animal ; a circumstance which has probably occa- 
sioned the Syrians to assert that the Druses adore a small 
stone calf. This is scarcely true ; they are not idolaters, 
but they do entertain a mysterious veneration for the purse 
of the faith, or for the /icirs, the black stone. The Syrians 
in general are unwilling to enter the house of a Druse 



Among the Druses. 



without first shouting or making a noise to announce their 
presence, for they are fully persuaded that if they came 
suddenly upon him, and their eyes lighted by chance on 
that object of his veneration, which is ever to be sedu- 
lously hidden from all the profane, the Druse would be 
bound by his religion to slay the profanei"' who had 
"blackened his face" and u surprised his hidden re- 
ligion." 

The Druses have signs of mutual recognition which 
have much analogy with the forms of free-masonry. The 
initiated everywhere know each other. When two Druses 
meet and discover by certain signs that they are both 
" ackals," they proceed to interrogate each other. One 
of them inquires, "Dost thou know in thy country a plant 
of peculiar excellence above all others?" "Yes," is the 
reply; "it is the aliledj." Upon a second inquiry as to 
the place where grows this marvelous plant, the re- 
spondent answers again, " It grows only in the hearts of 
the faithful Druses who believe in the unity of the God 
Itakim Bi Amri." The proof is not yet complete ; they 
have now recognized each other as among the faithful and 
initiated, and next grasping each other's hands, one giving 
the left, the other the right, they whisper the names of 
the five prophets or Itedoubs, and two or three words 
unintelligible to all but those who have reached high 
degrees among their ackals. The inquiry is now com- 
plete, and they salute each other, laying their hands on 
their breasts. 

This mysterious plant, which they call aliledj and the 
other Arabs cuscuth, is a small creeper with blue flowers 
{cuscuta repens, or cuscuta minor). The plant seems 
to have been always held in veneration in Syria. Pliny 
describes it under the name of the cassyta or cadytas of 
Syria. For the Druses it is a symbol of faith and union, 



252 



The Old World— Palestine. 



and a pledge of hope and happiness. A small bunch of 
it always surmounts their banners ; a branch hangs within 
the doors of their khaluehs, and some seeds and dried 
flowers of the plant are worn in a small egg-shaped silver 
box, which hangs from the neck of their acklat women. 

Among no other race, perhaps, is there to be found so 
strong a faith in amulets (itedjabs) as among the Druses ; 
they possess a great number of them, and such implicit 
confidence do they repose in the virtue of these talismans 
that, when armed with an itedjab, in the most desperate 
engagements their natural courage is often exalted to an 
incredible degree of temerity 7 . The wealthiest among 
them wear signet rings called Katem Suleymani, sup- 
posed to have been enchanted by virtue of the name of 
Solomon. They are commonly of silver, with a black 
swivel stone, on one surface of which is inscribed the 
name of the owner, and, on the other, stars, constellations, 
and cabalistic figures. 

Those who would know more of this strange people 
should consult the excellent French works of Perrier, La 
Syrie sous Mehemet Alt; and Sylvestre de Sacy, Reli- 
gion des Druses, 2 vols., 8vo., Paris, 1838. 

The situation of Beit-jin, through which village we 
have just passed, is quite picturesque, and the many tall, 
straight poplar trees growing along the banks of the 
stream which runs near it, give to the place and sur- 
roundings a pretty appearance. We cross this stream, 
and for some time after ride along its bank down the 
narrow valley. 

It is nearly 5 P. M. before we reach Kafr-Howaran, 
and here we order our tents pitched, though first looking 
around to find, if possible, a sheltered spot, as the wirlds 
still blow strong and cold from Mount Hermon, which 
now seems but a little way off — just over the next hill — 



Among the Druses. 



253 



though really several miles away. Scarcely are we within 
our tents before a strong gust of wind, sweeping down 
from the mountain side, snaps two or three of the tent 
cords, and but for the promptness of our servants in seiz- 
ing and holding on to the side which had given away, we 
should speedily have had it about our ears. To protect 
ourselves from another mishap of the kind, we now 
double the ropes all around, and add another cross-rope 
from the flag-staff. 

The blowing down of one's tent in the day-time, and 
when no storm is prevailing, can soon be remedied, and 
is usually laughed at as one of the episodes of tent-life in 
Palestine ; but when it occurs at night, and in the midst 
of a furious, driving storm, it becomes a serious matter. 
Twice during our journey we come very near having 
such mishaps ourselves, but both times a complete over- 
throw is avoided by timely attention. Not so, however, 
with some of our American friends, who not only had 
their tents blown completely down while encamping out- 
side of the walls of Jerusalem, but were obliged to flee, 
bare-naked, to a neighboring house to save themselves 
from still more unpleasant consequences. One gentleman, 
thinking a second deluge and the end of the world had 
come together, gathered up his clothes in his arms, and 
as soon as he could extricate himself from the folds of his 
fallen tent, ran to the nearest house with no clothing on 
whatever save his night-shirt ! That those within the 
house thought a ghost had suddenly appeared to haunt 
them, and for a while refused admittance to what they 
thought an unearthly visitor, is not to be wondered at. 




CHAPTER XIII. 

" THE GARDEN OE EDEN" 

EARLY next morning we leave Kafr Howaran and 
after a ride of some hours over barren hills we 
come within sight of the far-famed valley of Damascus, 
at the north-east end of which lies the city itself, but so 
completely embosomed in trees that no view of the city 
can be had from this direction until almost within its 
gates. 

This plain is very large and flat, and at one time, prob- 
ably, was in a very high state of cultivation, though, at 
present, it is far from being so. We notice a few fields of 
barley, very thin and poor ; a few fields of grape vines, 
some very large ; and quite near the city, some potatoes 
and vegetables, but beyond this all is desolation. The 
indolence which prevails in lower Syria seems not less so 
here, and hence the almost utter desolation of this once 
beautiful plain. Divided up in small farms, and in the 
hands of Yankee farmers, it could indeed be made a 
" Garden of Eden," as some believe it to have been 
originally. Through this valley flow the waters of 
Abana and Pharpar, the far-famed rivers of Damascus. 
The Abana is led off in dykes to different parts of the 
valley to irrigate the land, and in skillful hands might be 
made still more useful in this particular. 
254 



"The Garden of Eden™ 



255 



For a Christian to get within the walls of Damascus 
has not always been an easy matter, though, at present, 
such treatment as earlier travelers speak of need not be 
feared. It is amusing as well as instructive to read the 
accounts which some tourists give of their first introduc- 
tion to this city. Thus Dr. Robinson says : 

" I was well aware that Damascus was one of the few 
places remaining in the Turkish dominions where relig- 
ious fanaticism drew a strong line of distinction between 
its Mussulman and Christian population. Many are the 
humiliations to which the latter are exposed. Here, for 
instance — and it was the same until lately at Cairo and 
Jerusalem — they are not allowed to enter the town on 
horseback. It was my intention to comply with the in- 
terdiction at the proper place : but. being tired. I deferred 
the execution of it until I should reach the gates. My 
guide and servant, who were Christians, unfortunately 
betrayed me by alighting. Whilst riding carelessly along- 
some hundred yards ahead of them, absorbed in my re- 
flections, two or three ruffian-looking Turks ran suddenly 
up to me, and, seizing hold of the bridle of my horse, 
asked me. in an impetuous tone, if I were not a D jour, 
or ; Infidel.'' To avow my faith required no deliberation ; 
but I could not help retorting. • Ana S\~azeron, Djour 
devil' — • I am a Christian, not an Infidel. 3 Xo sooner 
had the words escaped my lips than I was torn violently 
from my horse, and loaded with a vollev of imprecations. 
In a few minutes some hundreds of the inhabitants had 
collected round me. and I was apprehensive of becoming 
the victim of a popular tumult, particularly as my guides, 
who were better able to explain matters than myself, had 
become too much alarmed for themselves to interfere in 
my behalf. I therefore retired to the side of the road, 

and. sitting down on the bank. I endeavored to disarm 
22 



256 The Old World — Palestine. 



the infuriated mob by the attitude of resignation ; for as 
long as their hostility — which arose from religious not 
personal motives — was confined to words, I knew what 
value to set upon it. But my pacific appearance had a 
contrary effect. Seeking a pretext for their conduct, some 
spots of green, the privileged color, were discovered in 
my flowered turban, and it was instantly torn off my 
head. A young urchin — the devil take him — encouraged 
by this indignity offered me, walked up and spat upon 
my beard ! This last affront for a moment robbed me of 
my equanimity, but I immediately recollected, and in 
time, that the slightest attempt at retaliation would be 
followed by instant death. Every man had a pistol or dirk 
in his girdle, and it would have cost him little to draw it 
out, and act upon the impulse of the moment. After ap- 
pealing in vain to some sheikhs, or elders, who were 
standing by, I got up and made the best of my way to the 
gates of the city, followed by a host of boys and women, 
throwing stones at us as we passed along. 

" During the whole of this disgraceful scene, which 
lasted about half an hour, the women, horesco refe?'ens, 
were even more violent than the men. At one time I 
thought I should have died the death of St. Stephen at 
the gates of Damascus. Here the conflict subsided ; 
nevertheless, I had the mortification of being myself 
obliged to pass along the streets, and through the crowded 
bazaars, on foot, my dress and person covered with mud 
and other impurities, whilst the muleteers rode our horses 
before us, Mustapha wearing my turban on his head. 
This last part of the ' comedie larmoyante' he acted with 
such consummate insolence that I joined heartily in the 
laugh directed against myself, to the no small astonish- 
ment of those who were looking on." v 

The experience of the gallant and lamented Majoi 



"The Garden of Eden" 



257 



Skinner possesses still more of the ludicrous, without the 
danger to life and limb to which Dr. Robinson was sub- 
jected. He says : "It is only six months since a Euro- 
pean has been able with safety to appear in his own cos- 
tume, and very few have yet been here to display it. I 
am, to many, therefore, a most singular exhibition. I 
appear so mean a figure in comparison with the flowing 
robes about me that I am miserably out of conceit with 
my wardrobe, and have no occasion to be flattered with 
the notice I have attracted. The Turkish women mutter 
' God is merciful !' as I pass them, and seem to call for 
protection from my ill-omened aspect ; the Christian 
women laugh aloud and chatter, with their sweet voices, 
comments far from favorable to my appearance. As I 
walked in front of a group of these merry dames, I drew 
my handkerchief from my coat pocket, and, naturally 
enough, applied it to wipe the dust from my eyes. I was 
assailed by such a shout of laughter that I thought I had 
committed some frightful indiscretion. I stood in great 
perplexity with my handkerchief in my hand, evidently 
an object of intense interest, for many women came shuf- 
fling from a distance to see the show. This was at 
length ended by my returning the cause of all the amuse- 
ment to its place ; when, forgetting their propriety, they 
clapped their hands, and laughed with double enjoyment. 

"It is not a difficult matter to become the wonder of a 
city, and, as yet, unconscious of the way in which I had 
merited to be one, I followed the crowd, as the evening 
approached, toward the convent. When we had entered 
the gate, a little boy, struck by the singular shape of a 
round hat which I wore, clapped his hands and cried out, 
' Abu-tanjier ! Abu-tanjier !' ' The father of a cooking- 
pot ! Look at the father of a cooking-pot!' This was 
echoed from every side ; for the resemblance a hat bears 



258 The Old World— Palestine. 

to a common cooking vessel, with a rim to it, is too strong 
to escape, and I was pursued by the shouts of the people 
till I was nearly out of sight. 

" A woman who had heard the uproar came to her 
door, and, as I had outwalked the crowd, she could not 
resist the chance of gratifying her curiosity, and begged 
me to show her my hat. I took it ofT with great gravity, 
and put it into her hands ; I believe she was disappointed 
to find that it was not a cooking-pot in reality. I rescued 
it from her in time to save it, or it might have been lodged 
in one of the colleges as a perpetual puzzle to the learned 
of the city." 

On the following Sunday our traveler strolled up and 
down the pavement in front of the convent church as the 
congregation was • coming out ; he was soon surrounded 
by a group of women, among whom were some of the 
merry ones whose laughter had been so excited by the 
management of his pocket handkerchief. They requested 
him, by very intelligible signs, to play the scene over 
again ; and, on his complying, so many fair hands were 
thrust into his coat pockets that he struggled with diffi- 
culty to escape, lest his clothes should be torn to pieces, 
and distributed throughout the city as relics of some ex- 
traordinary monster. 

After all, he had no great reason to complain of his 
fate ; for, as we have already seen, he might have met 
with worse usage than merely being laughed at. The 
Damascene Moslems have long had the reputation of 
being pre-eminent for fanaticism and intolerance. The 
Turks themselves say of them that they are the most 
mischievous race in the whole empire (but that probably 
means no more than that they are the most sturdy in re- 
sisting Turkish tyranny), and the Arabs, who delight in 
jingling proverbs, say Shami, shoumi — Damascene ras- 



" The Garden of Eden." 



259 



cal, just as they say, Halabi tchelebi, Aleppine petit- 
maitre. Though we may question the truth of this wise 
saw, there is no doubt that the sequestered position of 
the city, and the pride inspired by its superior sanctity, 
have not contributed to render the inhabitants very toler- 
ant toward outlandish giaours. They bear with European 
monks, because they are used to their dress, and look 
upon them as Orientals ; but, previously to the Egyptian 
invasion, no Christian dared to show himself within the 
gates in the Frank habit, nor was he allowed to mount a 
horse, as we have illustrated in the case of Dr. Robinson, 
but was compelled to content himself with the humble 
jackass, and even to think himself fortunate if he was 
not compelled, by insults, to dismount and lead his don- 
key by the bridle when passing through the bazaars, 
whilst every Mussulman thought himself privileged to 
kick the infidel out of his way. When Ibrahim Pasha 
first entered Damascus, he was earnestly entreated not to 
suffer the Christian dogs to ride on horses, whence they 
might look down on the true believers and " blacken 
their faces." " Oh," said the conqueror, " there is an 
easy remedy for that. If the Christians ride on horses, 
do you ride on dromedaries, and then, you know, you will 
be above them." 

It is not surprising that a Frank, dressed in his own 
habit, previously so rare an object in Damascus, should 
create a great sensation, for a being more totally different 
in all outward appearances from the natives could hardly 
fall among them. In manner, in figure, in the mode of 
walking and of sitting down, who can be more opposite 
than an American and Oriental ? 

We do not ourselves go within the city walls on first 

reaching Damascus. Not that there is any hindrance to 

our doing so, for the Damascenes are very civil to strangers 
22* 



260 



The Old World — Palestine. 



just now ; but having learned while at the Sea of Galilee, 
from the Turkish commandant stationed there, that the 
most pleasant spot for encampment was on the banks of 
the river Abana, about a half mile from one of the city 
gates, we hunt up the place and have our tents pitched as 
he had recommended. Our tent door is not more than 
ten feet from the beautiful flowing river, the waters of 
which Naaman the Syrian thought " better than all the 
waters of Israel," and which the present inhabitants hold 
in scarcely less estimation. 

The Abana and Pharpar rivers are branches of the Bar- 
rada — " the Golden River" of the Greeks — which, after 
leaving the mountains, divides into seven branches. Some 
of them flow directly to the city, and supply the public 
baths and the countless fountains with which it is refreshed 
and adorned ; the others, after being sub-divided into nu- 
merous smaller channels for the irrigation of the surround- 
ing gardens, unite on the south-east of the city and con- 
tinue in a single stream toward the eastern mountains, 
where they are lost in a marsh called Birket-el-Merdj. 

The zone of verdure that encompasses the city consists 
entirely of gardens profusely watered ; the trees planted 
in them are so numerous and acquire such an extraordi- 
nary size and vigor that they more than supply every de- 
mand of the inhabitants for fruit, timber and fire-wood ; 
and yet, so bounteous is the climate, they do not at all im- 
pair the produce of the beds beneath them. The manner 
of irrigation and the peculiar features of the landscape 
strikingly accord with the description of the orchard be- 
longing to the enchanted castle in the story of the third 
Calendar in the Thousand-and-One Nights : 

" This delicious orchard* was watered in a very peculiar 
manner. There were channels so artificially and propor- 
tionably cut that they carried water in considerable quan- 



" The Garden of Eden" 



261 



tities to the roots of snch trees as required moisture ; others 
conveyed it in smaller quantities to those whose fruits were 
already formed ; some carried still less to those whose 
fruits were swelling ; and others carried only so much as 
was just requisite to water those which had their fruits 
come to perfection, and only wanted to be ripened. They 
far exceeded the ordinary size of the fruits in our gardens. 
Lastly, those channels that watered the trees whose fruit 
was ripe had no more moisture than what would just pre- 
serve them from withering." 

The afternoon and evening of the day on which we 
reach Damascus we spend in looking after the erection of 
our tents and in watching the gay promenaders, on foot 
and on horseback, who come out for exercise and for 
pleasure on the great macadamized French road which 
runs along the bank of the river, on the outer side of our 
canvas home, our tents being pitched on a beautiful green 
sward between the river and the road. 

If there is anything at present in or about Damas- 
cus entitling it to the name of the " Garden of Eden," 
it is the pleasant promenades and gardens outside of its 
walls rather than within them. Very tolerable horses, 
with gay saddles and crimson housings, are to be procured 
by tourists for hire, and the rides in the lovely evenings 
about the different parts of the environs present beautiful 
points of view and most interesting snatches of Oriental 
life. As the sun is declining in the west we see little 
caravans of dromedaries, or a few mules, slowly emerging 
from the gloomy gateways of the town to gain a few hours' 
march to some neighboring village, in order to commence 
their journey in earnest at an early hour on the morrow. 
From our horse we see over the mud-walls that impede 
the view of the foot-passenger, into the gardens, where 
donkeys with panniers are receiving their loads of enormous 



262 The Old World — Palestine. 



radishes, gourds, water-melons, grapes, pomegranates, and 
other produce. By the side of the donkeys stands a grim 
figure, with one eye, and with a long white stick in his 
hand, pointed with iron, at the first movement of which 
the donkeys start off headlong with their load of vegeta- 
bles, clearing away right and left, and upsetting all who 
are heedless enough to await their onset. 

Here and there, while riding in the outskirts of the city, 
we meet a string of dromedaries, some weary mookres, 
and a party of wayworn travelers, exhausted by the heat 
of the sun and parched with thirst ; a woman, perhaps, 
with a young child screaming for thirst, is nodding in a 
tackterawan, fastened on the hump of a dromedary. They 
have made a long journey, as we guess by their jaded 
looks and by the rapturous eagerness with which they 
pull up at the first flowing stream they meet. There goes 
the aga or sheikh of some neighboring village, who has 
been to town to pay his contribution into the coffers of the 
governor or to order himself a new scarlet robe. He 
makes a very gay figure on his Arab charger, accompa- 
nied by attendants with long white sticks, who run on 
either side of his horse's head. If you wander far enough, 
you may fall in with some great encampment, the Bagdad 
caravan, for instance, three of which go annually from 
Damascus, and take from thirty to forty days on the jour- 
ney each way. The line of camels, several thousand in 
number, extends to the verge of the horizon ; tents are 
pitched, the merchandise unladen, and guards set to watch 
it. Innumerable fires glitter in every direction, and round 
them are groups of wild figures eating their frugal meal 
or stretched on the ground to sleep. 

On Friday, the Mohammedan sabbath, after midday 
prayers, and, indeed, on the afternoon of almost every 
pleasant day, the Mussulman population throng the gar- 



"The Garden of Eden" 



263 



dens that constitute their paradise. " Nor, indeed," sa}^s 
a quaint old writer, " doth a Turk at any time show him- 
self to be so truly pleased and satisfied in his senses as he 
doth in the summer-time, when he is in a pleasant garden. 
For he is no sooner come into it (if it be his own or where 
he thinks he may be bold) than he puts off his upper coat 
and lays it aside, and on that his turbant; then turns up 
his sleeves and unbuttoneth himself, turning his breast to 
the wind, if there be any, if not, he fans himself, or his 
servant doth it for him. Again, sometimes standing upon 
a high bank to take the fresh air, holding his arms abroad 
(as a cormorant, sitting on a rock, doth his wings in sun- 
shine after a storm), courting the weather and sweet air, 
calling it his soul, his life and his delight, ever and anon 
showing some visible signs of contentment. Nor shall the 
garden, during his pleasant distraction, be termed other- 
wise than Paradise, with whose flowers he stuffs his 
bosom and decketh his turbant, shaking his head at their 
sweet savor. Sometimes he singeth a song to some 
pretty flower, by whose name his mistress is called, and 
uttering words of great joy, as if at that instant she herself 
were there present. And one bit of meat in a garden shall 
do him more good than the best fare that may be else- 
where." 

Damascus is, perhaps, the most ancient city in the 
world, and the only one that has enjoyed a continued, 
though not undisturbed, course of prosperity through so 
vast a succession of ages. It existed in the days of Abra- 
ham, and was founded, it is said, by Uz, the grandson of 
Noah. Founded before all those that afterward rivaled 
or eclipsed it, it has seen them perish one by one, and 
sometimes so utterly as to leave no memorial to mark the 
place on which they stood. And yet Damascus has had 
its full share of the buffe tings of war and civil violence. 



264 The Old World— Palestine. 



It became the capital of the kingdom of Syria, founded 
by Rehsin, was taken and sacked bv Jeroboam, king of 
Israel, but soon recovered from the blow, for it was once 
more the metropolis of Syria long before the Seleucidas 
had transferred the seat of their empire to Antioch. 
Under the Saracens, in the brilliant period of Arabian 
history, Damascus became, like Bagdad, the residence of 
the caliphs. After this, sieges and disasters were no rare 
occurrence in its annals. Repeatedly was it swept with 
fire and sword, but never did it sustain so fearful a 
calamity as toward the close of the fourteenth century, 
when it was beleaguered by the ferocious conqueror 
Timur Lenk (Timur the Lame, or Tamerlane). For 
several days the black flag floated in vain on the Tartar's 
tent ; and never had that signal of desolation been hoisted 
for three days on the same spot without the fulfillment of 
its fatal presage. At length the city was taken by storm, 
and the streets were deluged with blood. They still show, 
near the gate called Babel Kabi, the spot on which stood 
a pyramid of heads, the horrible monument of the victor's 
ferocity. Timur Lenk carried oft' with him the ablest 
artisans after butchering the rest, desiring to enrich his 
capital, Samarcand, with all the arts of which he robbed 
Damascus. 

Its present population is estimated at from one hundred 
and fifty to two hundred thousand souls, and though 
mostly Moslems, still within its walls and upon its streets 
may be found people representing almost every nation of 
the earth. Its streets are mostly narrow and badly paved, 
when paved at all ; and its houses are generally of the 
Oriental style — plastered walls without, and a profusion 
of gew r gaw and filagree work within. The houses of 
some of the wealthier class are finished with fine marbles 
within, both for walls and floors, while the richest of 



"The Garden of Eden" 



265 



damask curtains hang at the windows and about the 
walls. 

The entrance to some even of the finest houses is by a 
low, mean-looking door in a great blank wall, little ac- 
cording with the luxury and splendor within, and seem- 
ing more likely to lead to a cow-shed than to a luxurious 
mansion. This unpromising entrance admits you, through 
an outer court occupied by the porter and some other 
domestics, into a spacious quadrangle, paved with marble, 
in the middle of which a fountain throws up a continual 
shower, cooling the atmosphere and refreshing the ever- 
greens and flowering shrubs which are placed around it. 
In one corner stands a tall, slender pole like a signal- 
staff, for the purpose of hoisting up an earthen jar full of 
water, which is cooled by the evaporation that takes place 
through the porous sides of the vessel. An arcade, sup- 
ported by low, slender columns, runs round the quadrangle, 
giving admission to the lower apartments ; these are 
elaborately painted and gilded, and the cornices are 
ornamented with Arabic inscriptions. Rich carpets and 
deewans, with cushions of damask or velvet, embroidered 
with gold, cover the floors ; and china plates, jars, basins, 
and bowls are advantageously disposed in niches in the 
walls or on shelves. In one of these apartments the 
stranger is generally received on his first introduction, 
but the places of common reception are the arcades, one 
of which is furnished with a deewan, which is shifted as 
the sun comes round. Here, as the Turk reclines upon 
softest cushions, the mild air that fans his cheek, the 
delightful mellowing of the light by the evergreens, the 
fragrance of the blossoms, and the plashing of the foun- 
tain, all weave around him a charm of the most volup- 
tuous repose. Even here the same mysterious solitude 
prevails as in the streets ; the sound of your own footsteps, 



266 The Old World— Palestine. 



echoing over the marble pavement, seems to you a rude 
intrusion on the genius of the place ; and you could 
almost fancy yourself in one of the enchanted palaces of 
the Arab romances. 

The fond attachment to the declining cause and to the 
ancient usages of Islamism which, in the common people 
of Damascus, declares itself in acts of insolence and 
intolerance, appears among the wealthier and more 
polished classes chiefly in a certain antique sumptuous- 
ness, a more gorgeous profusion of "barbaric pearl and 
gold." The palaces of the agas, the aristocracy of the 
city, surpass, in the splendor of their internal decorations, 
anything of the kind to be seen elsewhere in the empire, 
and seem to realize to our imagination the magnificence 
of the days of the caliphs, the Saladins, and the Solymans. 
Many of their apartments are fitted up at a cost of as 
much as a hundred thousand piastres, and in some palaces 
there are as many as eight or ten of these lordly halls. 
One gorgeous apartment in the house of Ali Aga Ka- 
zini-el-Katabi cost the proprietor upward of two hun- 
dred thousand piastres, equaling about ten thousand 
dollars. 

The ceiling was formed of a species of gold-carved 
tracery on a glass ground, producing a most splendid 
effect. The walls, a short distance below the ceiling, 
were gayly painted in the form of buildings, fantastic 
porticoes, and columns, through which, in the distance, 
were glimpses of the sea and blue mountains, and here 
and there foregrounds of the weeping willow and the 
cypress, painted by artists from Stamboul. Below these 
were recesses with folding doors, richly inlaid with dif- 
ferent colored woods, and ornamented with light tracery 
and figure-work. Around them were scroll patterns of 
clusters of arms and weapons, and portions of the walls 



'•77/6- Garden of Eden? 



267 



on each side were richly inlaid with tortoiseshell and 
mother-of-pearl. 

The house of Mallim YussefY, the Jew treasurer and 
secret director of most of the affairs of the pashalic at 
the time of Mr. Buckingham's visit to the city, had been 
built by that minister's father, during the latter half of 
whose life, or about twenty-five years, there had been 
employed in its construction and embellishment at least 
fifty workmen of different descriptions, every day except- 
ing holidays. The exterior of this mansion was even 
more than usually remarkable for poverty and meanness. 

The agas are in general the sons or descendants of 
pashas, who have employed in the decoration of their 
dwellings the treasures amassed by their fathers. They 
are a numerous class, exhibiting under another form a 
counterpart to the nepotism of Rome : they fill the chief 
civil and military posts in the city under the pashas 
deputed bv the sultan, and have vast territorial posses- 
sions in the villages surrounding Damascus. Their pomp 
consists in palaces, gardens, horses, and women ; at a 
sign from the pasha their heads fall, and their wealth, 
their palaces, their gardens, their horses, and their 
women, are transferred to some new favorite of fortune. 
Such a system naturally invites to enjovment of the 
present moment and to resignation : voluptuousness and 
fatalism are the necessary results of Oriental despotism. 
In the year 1S39 the wealthy Ali Aga, mentioned above, 
being detected in carrying on a clandestine correspond- 
ence with the Turkish seraskier. Hafiz Ali Pasha, the 
general acting against the forces of Mohammed Ali, an 
order followed for his execution. His headless body 
remained a whole day exposed in the bazaar. His death 
was much regretted, for he was a man of high birth, and 
respected by all classes. 
23 



268 The Old World— Palestine. 



Almost every one has heard of the English lady, who, 
from being at one time the wife of an English lord, has 
finally become the wife of a Bedouin sheikh, and now 
lives in Damascus, on the income which she receives from 
the estates of her first husband. The story is a long one 
— too long for a chapter — though strikingly illustrating 
the old saying that " truth is sometimes stranger than 
fiction," and conveying a moral which it would be well 
for all young ladies to heed. Suffice it to say, that she 
married for position, not for love — that her husband pro- 
cured a divorce because of her dissolute habits — that she 
subsequently contracted several marriages of convenience, 
which only lasted so long as whim or fancy dictated — that 
from Italy she came to Damascus, where, for some fancied 
service of this Bedouin sheikh, she married him, and 
since then has lived part of the time in her beautiful 
villa, just without the walls of the city, and part of the 
time in tents on the desert sands with her last husband. 

Having read the strange and eventful history of this 
woman, we resolve, if possible, to see her, or at least to 
see the place in which she lives. Knocking at the gate, 
we are informed by a servant that her ladyship is not at 
home, but may be found at a coffee-shop on the banks of 
the Abana ; and this reminds us to say that these coffee- 
shops, in the midst of beautiful gardens, are very numer- 
ous in and about Damascus, and are frequented by 
persons of every class, who here while away their idle 
hours in eating, drinking, and listening to music. We 
then ask to be shown the house and grounds of her lady- 
ship, which request is granted, as the servant is given to 
understand that there is bucksheesh at the end of it. He 
leads us all through the garden and grounds, which are 
indeed beautiful, having roses and other flowers blooming 
everywhere, with a handsome marble fountain and rustic 



"The Garden of Eden" 



269 



arbor near the centre. He also admits us to two of the 
best rooms of the house, both of which are finished and 
furnished in real Oriental style. The pictures on the 
walls, and some of the books and souvenirs lying about, 
betray an English origin, and are doubtless mementoes 
of her early days. Several of the smaller pictures are 
said to have been painted by herself, and show much 
taste and skill. She is now, we are told, over fifty years 
of age, and we could not but think how very sad must be 
the retrospective view of her life. From the spoiled pet 
of the Court of St. James, with which her father held 
high and honorable relations, she is now the wife of a 
despised Bedouin, and the town-talk of all who know her 
past history. 

An allusion above to a coffee-shop — in which, we were 
told, the English lady might be found — may make some of 
our readers desire to know something more concerning 
them, as they are one of the " institutions" of Damascus, 
and not among the least, if we accept the estimate placed 
upon them by the natives. 

This city has long been celebrated for the number and 
elegance of its coffee-houses ; they are for the most part 
built in the kiosk fashion, of wood painted different colors, 
green and blue predominating, and open on the sides, ex- 
cept where partially closed with plants coiling up the 
slender columns that support the roof. The softened light 
that makes its way through the leafy walls forms a charm- 
ing contrast with the intense glare of the sun glancing upon 
the waters or reflected from the whitened walls of the houses 
of the town. Nor are they more remarkable for their pic- 
turesque appearance than for their happily-chosen position, 
being generally situated on the border of some running 
stream, the view opening out on a pretty cascade, with 
gardens and orchards lying on the opposite bank. At 



270 The Old World— Palestine. 



night, when the lamps, suspended from the slender pillars, 
are lighted, and Turks of different ranks, in all the varie- 
ties of their rich costume, cover the platform just above 
the surface of the river, on which, and its foaming cataracts, 
the moonlight rests, and the sound of music is heard, you 
fancy that if ever the enchantments of Eastern romance are 
to be realized, it is here. 

The pleasures enjoyed in these places are usually of the 
silent kind ; but sometimes they are enlivened by the per- 
formances of professional dancers, story-tellers or singers. 

The recitation of Eastern fables and tales partakes some- 
what of the nature of a dramatic performance. It is not 
merely a simple narrative ; the story is animated by the 
manner and action of the speaker. A variety of other 
story-books, beside the Arabian Nights, furnish materials 
for the story-teller, who, by combining the incidents of 
different tastes and varying the catastrophe of such as he 
has related before, gives them an air of novelty even to 
persons who at first imagine they are listening to tales with 
which they are acquainted. He recites, walking to and 
fro, in the middle of the coffee-room, stopping only now 
and then when the expression requires some emphatic 
attitude. He is commonly heard with great attention, and 
not unfrequently, in the midst of some interesting adven- 
ture, when the expectation of his audience is raised to the 
highest pitch, he breaks off abruptly and makes his escape 
from the room, leaving both his heroine and his audience 
in the utmost embarrassment. Those who happen to be 
near the door endeavor to detain him, insisting on tire 
story being finished before he departs ; but he always 
makes his retreat good, and the auditors, suspending their 
curiosity, are induced to return at the same hour next day 
to hear the sequel. He no sooner has made his exit than 
the company in separate parties fall to disputing about the 



''The Garden of Eden" 



271 



character s of the drama or the event of the unfinished ad- 
venture. The controversy by degrees becomes serious, 
and opposite opinions are maintained with no less warmth 
than if the fate of the city depended on the decision. 

When the charm of novelty is worn off, tourists, espe- 
cially Americans, are apt to complain of the monotony 
and want of amusement in these places, where they find 
no public papers, no political or other gossip, nothing to 
keep alive that brisk current of national or local interest 
which enlivens our places of social resort. But the men of 
the East know nothing of that restless activity that ani- 
mates the American, and makes exertion of body or mind 
a craving of his nature which must be satisfied even in his 
moments of recreation. The habits of their lives present 
but two phases — excited energy and profound repose. To 
act is, according to their way of thinking, to suffer, and 
they cannot understand the possibility of people willfully 
putting themselves to trouble when there is absolutely no 
necessity for their doing so. The Mussulman's bliss is 
expressed in the word kieff—K word incapable of being 
translated, because the peculiar kind of abstraction it sig- 
nifies is unknown in the Western world. It is not the far- 
niente of the Italian, for that amounts to no more than a 
simple negation of action ; but kieff implies beside this, a 
brooding over passive animal enjoyment — a state of feeling 
like what we may guess the ox to experience when he lies 
down to ruminate in pleasant pastures, or that sweet con- 
sciousness of awaking bliss we sometimes feel at morn- 
ing in bed, when we are just able to entertain one thought 
— " Now I am asleep." 

Here, then, in these coffee-houses the Moslems sit the 
live-long hours, seemingly as phlegmatic as Dutchmen, 
smoking, sipping coffee, and conversing after their way ; 

that is, with an interval of a quarter of an hour between 
23* 



272 



The Old World — Palestine. 



every two phrases. Do not, however, conclude too hastily 
that the thoughts and passions of busy life never molest the 
somnolent genius of the place. Perhaps at the very mo- 
ment you are wondering at the listless apathy of the smokers, 
you are unconsciously assisting at the noiseless birth of 
one of those revolutions that so often deluge Damascus 
with blood. The leaven works silently and unseen for a 
long while, till at length its effects break out when least 
expected. The people side with one party or another, 
and fly to arms under the conduct of one of the agas, and 
the government passes for a time into the hands of the 
victor. The vanquished are put to death, or escape to the 
deserts of Baalbec or Palmyra, where the independent 
tribes afford them an asylum. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



SIGHTS OF DAMASCUS. 



UR first introduction to the " sights" of Damascus is 



that of a man hanging by the neck, at the corner of 
a street where two of the principal bazaars cross each other. 
What we saw seemed to be a stuffed figure of a man hang- 
ing as a sign to some shop ; but upon a closer examination 
it proves to be a real man, who had been hung up at that 
corner an hour or two before, for having committed the 
crime of murder. The beam from which the body is 
suspended juts out from the corner of the building about 
three feet, and is probably twelve feet from the pavement. 
The rope about the neck is probably three feet in length, 
the body about six, and consequently there is only about 
three feet space between the feet of the hanging man and 
the pavement. He was hung, we are told, by soldiers in 
obedience to orders, but no soldiers are about the body 
now, and hundreds of persons are passing and repassing 
every hour of the day, scarcely one of whom even stops 
to glance at the body, so common are sights of like cha- 
racter in this. city. The body is kept hanging until sun- 
down, at this one of the most public places of the city, 
that everybody may see and take warning, and is then 
taken down and buried by the soldiers detailed for the 
execution. 




273 



274 The Old World — Palestine- 



Moslems believe that punishment for crime should al- 
ways be of the most public character, that others, seeing 
it, may take warning in time to avoid a like fate ; while 
we, in America, have adopted a contrary opinion and 
practice. Much, of course, can be said in support of 
each theory, but which is really the best is not so easy to 
determine. That not only the knowledge, but the actual 
observance of punishment, as the penalty of crime, may 
deter some from committing criminal acts, is undoubtedly 
true ; and it is no less true that familiarity with punish- 
ment, however horrible, has upon some the effect of 
blunting and hardening the sensibilities. Much, we 
think, depends upon the education and civilization of the 
people for whom the laws are made. From what we 
have seen of the Arabic character, both in Egypt and 
Syria, we are well satisfied that the dread of instantaneous 
and severe punishment as the penalty for crime, and the 
sight of its infliction, are the best possible preventatives 
to crime for this people ; but we are not at all certain 
that a like rule would hold good in the United States. 
On the contrary, our general inclination has been, and 
still is, in favor of private executions. 

Though our first experience of sight-seeing in Da- 
mascus is so unpleasant, we still persevere, determin- 
ing to see all that is to be seen in this far-famed city. 
The other objects of interest to tourists consist of the 
mosques, the castle, the convents, the bazaars, the house 
of Ananias, the place where Paul was let down from 
the wall in a basket, and the reputed place of his con- 
version. 

Our guide conducts us to each of these, and, in the 
course of the trip, points out many other objects which 
he seems to regard as of special interest. 

The mosque of St. John, which occupies the site of a 



Sights of Damascus. 



275 



Corinthian temple, and still contains some of the old 
columns, is the only one worthy of a visit. 

This great mosque (St. John) was once a cathedral, 
and is said to be the largest and most splendid of all the 
churches erected by the early Christians in this country. 
The mosque of the Durweeshes has the finest minarets in 
Damascus, and another is remarkable for having its min- 
arets, which are of great height and grandeur, cased with 
enameled tiles of a rich green color ; the reflection of the 
sunshine from this iridescent surface produces a splendid 
effect. Many of the mosques were built by the caliphs 
as mausoleums ; they have courts, porticoes, and foun- 
tains, and some are overshadowed by a few green trees, 
among which sacred doves may be heard cooing. 

The walls of the Old Castle are grand and imposing, 
and from the towers at the corners we have an extended 
view of the city. The castle is eight hundred feet long 
by six hundred in width ; the walls are thick and laid up 
with square blocks of stone, and put to shame the flimsy, 
miserable structures which surround it. It is now occu- 
pied as barracks by Turkish soldiers. 

Near the castle is a government mill, for the grinding 
of wheat and corn for the garrison. Its propelling power 
is a large iron wheel, turned by the waters of the Abana. 
This mill the officer takes us all through, and shows it to 
us with evident delight, believing, no doubt, that it is by 
far the greatest mill in the world. Of course we say tieb, 
tieb (good, good) to everything, though in reality it 
will not compare with the commonest country mill of 
America. 

Of the convents we visit, the Greek, now in the course 
of renovation and addition, is the only one worthy of 
note. This, when completed, will be a fine structure for 
Damascus, though miserably poor as compared with 



276 The Old World — Palestine. 



many convents in Europe. The monks have many sad 
tales to tell of the extortion and ill-treatment of their 
Moslem rulers. The following is one of the many : 

The best paved street in Damascus is that on which 
stands the front of the Franciscan convent. It was in 
such bad order some years ago that the monks resolved to 
repair it whenever their finances would allow them to do 
so. They at length commenced the work, to the great 
joy of the Christian population, who would have a capital 
place to lounge in during the various offices of their fes- 
tivals. The governor took no notice of the work during 
its progress, but when it was finished he sent to demand 
on what authority they had dared to improve a street in 
Damascus, and ordered them instantly to pay thirty thou- 
sand piastres to secure the privilege of walking upon it. 
The poor monks were in despair, and declared they could 
never hope to afford so exorbitant a sum. The pasha 
seized the superior and put him in prison, with the de- 
termination to keep him there until he should be ran- 
somed by his brethren. This was at length effected, and 
fifty yards of pavement were gained to the church. 

We had heard and read much of the bazaars of Da- 
mascus, and expected to find them far superior to any 
others we had seen, but in this we are greatly disap- 
pointed. They are not to be compared with the bazaars 
of Cairo, either in extent or in the quality of goods of- 
fered. There is not in all of Damascus a single yard of 
pure silk goods manufactured, notwithstanding the asser- 
tions to the contrary. They make fabrics of half silk and 
half linen, and of such brilliant colors and glossy appear- 
ance as easily to deceive the eye of the inexperienced ; 
but their largest silk dealers inform us (after they find de- 
ception unavailable) that no fabrics of all silk are manu- 
factured in this city or country. Such as they have are 



Sights of Damascus. 



277 



imported from France, and these are not of the best 
quality. 

Among the lost arts of Damascus appears to be the 
manufacture of the splendid silk damask interwoven with 
gold, which is seen in some of the richest houses, but is 
not easily to be found in the bazaars. The present man- 
ufactures are of red leather shoes and slippers, a variety of 
silver work, a very durable mixed stuff of silk and cotton, 
in general wear throughout Syria, some of the patterns 
of which are remarkably handsome, and some very neat 
cabinet work, chiefly in the form of boxes and coffers. 
This latter is a particularly important branch of trade, 
since the principal furniture of an Arab family consists in 
one or two chests, in which they keep their clothes and 
other movables. Most of these boxes are of cedar, 
painted red, and studded with gilt nails in various de- 
vices. Some are inlaid with ivory and mother-of-pearl, 
or finely carved in relief. The smell of cedar wood per- 
vades the whole bazaar, and mingling with the thousand 
different perfumes exhaled by the shops of the grocers 
and the druggists, and with the incessant smoking of 
countless pipes, fill these places with a peculiar atmos- 
phere of their own. 

The manufacture of the celebrated Damascus swords 
no longer exists. The weapons offered for sale by the 
armorers are of a very ordinary character. Some speci- 
mens of the old manufacture are still met with ; they pass 
as heirlooms, from hand to hand, and are esteemed ex- 
ceedingly precious. The blade of one presented to Lam- 
artine cost the pasha who had owned it five thousand 
piastres. Many Turks and Arabs, he tells us, who prize 
these weapons above diamonds, would give all they had 
in the world for such a blade ; their eyes sparkled with 
admiration at the sight of it, and they pressed it rever- 



278 The Old World— Palestine. 



ently to their foreheads, as if they adored so perfect an 
implement of death. 

A scimetar, to be perfect, ought to be broad in the 
blade, and its length, from hilt to point, should be exactly 
equal to the distance from the tip of the ear to the fist, as 
you stand upright, with your arm by your side. If the 
steel gives a clear crystalline sound when you twitch the 
point with your nail, you may be satisfied of the good 
temper of the weapon. Such is the keenness of edge 
of which the best blades are susceptible that it is a 
common amusement with the Turks to cut through down 
pillows or silk handkerchiefs as they are thrown at them. 
Weapons are as frequent a subject of conversation among 
the men as jewels and fashions are among the women 
of the Levant. The Turks have a peculiar knack of 
bringing the discourse to bear upon a topic so gratifying 
to their vanity. You will often see them unsheath their 
scirnetars in the middle of a repast, and hand them across 
the table to each other. Their mode of presenting the 
weapon to the scrutiny of an amateur is exceedingly 
graceful. Twirling the hilt round in their hands, so as 
to bring the blade under their arm, they present the hilt 
to him with a bow and gesture of the hand, signifying 
the entire sacrifice of their person. 

The saddlers are the most numerous and the most inge- 
nious workmen in Damascus. They occupy a long, hand- 
some bazaar at the northern end of the city. The floor or 
street of the bazaar is covered with skins, on which men, 
horses and dromedaries walk, and which, after being thus 
thoroughly trampled upon, are turned into leather by 
steeping them in an astringent liquid made from the 
husk of the pomegranate. The scarlet and blue housings, 
embroidered in gold and silver ; the gay bridles, martin- 
gales, breast and head-pieces, decorated with beads, bits 



Sights of Damascus. 



279 



of silver, silk, shells, or tassels ; the saddles, some of red 
leather, and some covered with purple and blue velvet, 
brocaded with silver and gold thread, either finished and 
exposed for sale, or in the act of being made, give this 
bazaar a very gay appearance. Nothing can surpass the 
beauty and splendor of the trappings made to be worn on 
state occasions by the horses of the Arab chiefs or of the 
agas. The prices of all these rich articles are greatly be- 
low the European standard. 

A variety of other manufactures of minor importance 
are met with ; but British goods have now taken the 
place of many of the inferior native fabrics, and many 
articles which used to be brought from India by the 
Persian Gulf, and reached Damascus by the caravans 
from Bagdad, are now imported direct from London and 
Liverpool to Beyrout. The principal articles of import 
are cotton goods, cotton twist, iron, hardware, West India 
produce, indigo, and cochineal. The bazaar of the mercers 
displays an extensive assortment of Manchester and Glas- 
gow calicoes, muslins and printed goods, and a few arti- 
cles of Swiss manufacture. 

Among the shopkeepers we must not forget the barbers, 
those dear old friends with whom the Arabian Nights have 
put us on so cordial a footing of intimacy. With that 
easy suavity 7 for which their fraternity* is renowned all the 
world over, they invite the passers-by to enter and submit 
their heads and faces to their beautifying fingers. Their 
shops are always full of customers. They are long, nar- 
row rooms, with benches on each side, on which a dozen 
Turks may sometimes be seen squatting in a line, with 
their heads, already shaved, poked out in the most patient 
manner, to be kneaded between the hands of the barber, 
who rolls them about as if they were balls quite uncon- 
nected with the shoulders they belong to. The barbers of 
24 



280 The Old World— Palestine. 



Damascus are celebrated for taste and skill in all the mys- 
teries of the toilette, including the art of imparting to the 
beard and mustachios that dark glossy hue so anxiously 
and universally coveted. The important affair of arrang- 
ing the turban is their daily business, and the becoming 
variety displayed in the disposition of the turbans worn by 
the gallants of the city does infinite honor to these merito- 
rious artists. It is pleasant to know that such men con- 
tinue to enjoy a due share of consideration in the East, 
and that their talents often raise them to affluence. When 
Mr. Carne's party wished to hire a separate residence in 
Damascus, they were recommended to a barber who had 
become a sort of capitalist and was possessed of some 
houses. The old gentleman, extremely well dressed, with 
a goodly length of beard, was always found seated at his 
ease, smoking or chatting with some of his friends. He 
wished the Englishmen to take a luxurious apartment of 
his, situated on a terraced roof ; it was profusely gilded, 
the cushions of the deewan were as white as snow, and it 
commanded a superb view of the mountains. But the 
barber's wife was by far the more zealous part of himself, 
and protested with loud clamor that infidels should never 
sully the purity and beauty of her deewan ; and after a 
warm dispute the good man was forced reluctantly to give 
way. He related that when Bonaparte and his army were 
in Syria, he and many others in Damascus took up arms 
and marched a great distance to fight with the Giaours 
for the honor of the prophet. " They were full of zeal ; 
and our forces," said the old man, " soon had an action. 
We were beat, and I received a severe wound ; and when 
they carried me with them in the retreat, in an agony of 
pain I cried out, 4 What had I to do with Giaours ? Go 
to hell, all the world !' " 

The shops of all kinds being open, everything is done 



Sights of Damascus. 



281 



in public. If a merchant is put in a passion by a cus- 
tomer, he jumps up among his bales and storms and 
raves to his heart's content without the least interruption. 
Each commodity has its own peculiar mart ; if you 
chance to want boots or shoes, you will be directed, on 
inquiry, to a bazaar filled from end to end with piles of 
red and yellow boots, shoes, and slippers for both sexes. 
There are always very entertaining doings to be wit- 
nessed in the ready-made clothes shops, where cheapness 
is more regarded than fashion ; and the poorer classes 
dress themselves in all the costumes of the East. They 
try the articles on either in the midst of the thoroughfare 
or on the board of the tailor, and loungers stop frequently 
to offer their opinions on the style and fit. There is a 
singular ostentation in the display of new clothes in the 
East, from some superstitious feeling, perhaps, for the 
ticket is never taken off the turban or the shawl round 
the waist until their novelty is completely worn away. 
The gayest Turks in Damascus strut with greater pride 
when the mark of the shop dangles from their heads. 

In our wanderings about the city we observe nothing 
like a book-bazaar, or even book-stand, though we pre- 
sume there must be some place where books of some sort 
can be had. We should like to procure a copy of the 
Kur-an in Arabic, to take home as a curiosity ; but after 
the experience of another traveler, whose account we 
have read, we should be somewhat afraid to ask for it, 
even if we came across a book-store. This traveler asked 
first about other books, and then inquired for a copy of 
the Kur-an. " That instant," he says, " the eyes of the old 
Turk flashed fire ; his beard wagged with indignation ; 
and he shouted at the pitch of his voice, Yallah, y all ah I 
' Go, go, get you gone !' with sundry uncourteous expres- 
sions and rude epithets, among which that of infidel dogs 



282 



The Old World— Palestine. 



was more than once repeated. Finding all further nego- 
tiation broken oft' for the present, we made as decent a 
retreat from the spot as we were able. It is considered 
sinful by the Moslems to allow the sacred book to be 
profaned even by the touch of an infidel, and no strict 
follower of the prophet will sell a Kur-an to a Frank ; 
but it may generally be obtained through some less 
scrupulous agent, who will buy it for you." 

The bazaars, like the Palais Royal of Paris, have their 
restaurants, where the merchants or the loungers may 
find a dinner. Tables and covers are, of course, out of 
the question. The purchaser provides himself with a 
large flat pan-cake, which serves him at once for bread, 
plate, and napkin, and the cook supplies him with little 
pieces of baked mutton, about the size of nuts, stuck on a 
skewer, somewhat in the fashion of our cat's meat. Ices, 
iced-water, and sherbet are carried through the bazaars 
by men whose sole occupation it is to make and sell these 
articles ; and several times, while riding along the streets, 
do we stop to buy from these men a sort of water-ice, 
made from the snows of Mount Hermon. 

The Armenian gold and silversmiths carry on their 
trade in what was once a Christian church : it is parted 
off into alleys, where the workmen sit with fire, bellows, 
anvils, hammers, pincers, drawers, and so forth ; and the 
ear is stunned with the incessant clattering on all sides. 
Old men with sallow faces and gray beards are seen 
poring over ingots of gold and silver, melting the metal 
in pots and pans on charcoal fires, or drawing it out into 
long wires and hammering it into different shapes. 

On one of our shopping excursions we visit the bazaar 
of the gold and silver smiths, thinking that here, at least, 
we will find something worthy of the reputation of the 
place. Judge, then, of our surprise to find what seemed 



Sights of Damascus. 



283 



to us much more like a row of ordinary blacksmith shops 
than of jewelry manufacturers. The tools with which 
they work are coarse and clumsy, and we do not observe 
a single piece of machinery in any of the shops. Every- 
thing is done with anvil, hammer, tongs, and file, and 
the work which they turn out is fully in keeping with the 
implements used in its manufacture. Fine stones are 
so coarsely and clumsily set as to give them the appear- 
ance of the most common brass rings and pins, such as 
you would hesitate to give a sixpence apiece for if offered 
you by a jewelry vender in the streets of New York. 
Brilliancy of color and display are the only noticeable 
things among the manufactured articles of Damascus. 
The commonest dress is made to appear showy, and even 
their horses, and mules, and donkeys, are arrayed in trap- 
pings of velvet, fringe, and shells. The question of 
utility seems to be ignored, if only they can make the 
article attractive to sthe eye. Everywhere and in every- 
thing this fact is painfully observable. 

The direction of the street called " the Straight" cor- 
responds, contrary to Turkish custom, with its ancient 
name, and leads from one of the gates to the citadel, 
which has probably always retained its present position. 
The dwelling of a rigid Mussulman covers a spot in this 
street venerated as the site of the house of Judas, where 
Saul of Tarsus lodged. In a different quarter, a curious 
substructure, resembling the crypt of a primitive church, 
is reputed to be the house of Ananias, who restored the 
apostle's sight. A broken staircase descends through a 
great deal of rubbish to a spacious vaulted chamber, in 
the form of a Greek cross, which receives no other light 
than that from the entrance. A strange notion seems to 
prevail throughout the country, that, in earlier days, 

people burrowed in the earth ; for all the houses exhibited 
24* 



284 The Old World— Palestine. 



as the abodes of celebrated or pious men are "in grottoes 
or caves below the ground. 

We examine these places with some care, and would 
like to believe that they are the exact spots where these 
important events of biblical history took place ; but, in a 
city almost wholly Moslem, as this, and of which they 
boast that the cross never floated over it, it is hardly prob- 
able that any pains would be taken to retain the locality 
of events among the most prominent in Christian history. 
However, we glance at the places pointed out, and know 
that if not just here, certainly somewhere in this city the 
devout Ananias dwelt, when the Lord said unto him, 
"Arise and go into the street which is called Straight, and 
inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, 
for behold he prayeth." 

The wall which formerly surrounded the city was built 
of large blocks of stone, and must have been of great 
strength, but much of the original wall has fallen down, 
and the blocks of stone have been carried away for other 
purposes. On the top of what remains of these stones 
the Turks, have built a mud wall, which the smallest 
cannon ball would penetrate at any point ; and no better 
commentary on the past and present of Damascus could 
be had than a view of this mud structure upon its stone 
foundation. 

The eastern gate, now walled up, is memorable as the 
place where the apostle was let down by the wall in a 
basket. They pretend to show the very house from which 
he thus made his escape ; and whatever faith we may put 
in this tradition, it is, at least, a curious fact that in a 
fortification of the present day, houses still stand on the 
walls with their windows toward the country, and imme- 
diately overhanging the ditch in a manner so likely to 
facilitate escape, and even to afford entrance to an enemy. 



Sights of Damascus. 



285 



This, at any rate, proves how little Damascus has changed 
from its earliest days. 

The Christians have here a large unenclosed cemetery, 
much visited by them ; and near it is a 'tomb enclosed in 
a wooden cage, and said to be that of the warder, tradi- 
tionally called St. George, who, having become a Chris- 
tian, allowed the apostle to escape, and afterward suffered 
martyrdom for his zeal and humanity. There is an arch 
in the burial-ground, where, it is pretended, St. Paul hid 
himself after his descent from the wall. 

In a wide, open road beyond the cemetery, about a 
quarter of a mile from the gate, is a place still highly 
venerated as the supposed scene of Saul's miraculous 
conversion. The present track deviates now from the 
straight line, leaving a few yards to the right, the precise 
spot believed to be that where he fell to the earth. This 
is evidently a portion of an ancient road, consisting en- 
tirely of firmly-embedded pebbles, which, having never 
been broken up, stands alone like the fragment of an 
elevated causeway. The sides have been gradually low- 
ered by numerous pilgrims, who, in all ages, have sought 
the pebbles to be preserved as relics. A wide, arch-like 
excavation through the centre of the causeway, produced 
by the same superstitious industry, has given it the sem- 
blance of a dismantled bridge. Through this aperture it 
is considered an act of devotion to pass ; and the pious 
may sometimes be seen performing the ceremony with all 
due solemnity, rubbing their shoulders against the pebbly 
sides, and repeating their prayers with exemplary earn- 
estness. 

Damascus is a true Oriental city, and the least sophisti- 
cated of all the Moslem capitals. Here everything is 
Eastern ; there are no Frank quarters, no shabby beings 
wandering about in black hats and pea-green jackets, no 



286 The Old World— Palestine. 



fantastic aping of Frank customs and Frank follies by 
the command of an innovating sultan. The aspect of its 
streets certainly does not meet the expectation excited by 
its romantic appearance as viewed from a distance ; they 
are narrow and irregular, and flanked with ugly dead 
walls ; but broad streets are no luxury in a warm climate ; 
and " here," says Dr. Richardson, " I felt the full force 
of the remark of Tacitus, that Nero spoiled Rome by 
broad streets." Those of Damascus are seldom of a 
width more than sufficient to allow two laden camels to 
pass each other without crushing the pedestrians, and 
many are of much narrower dimensions. They are the 
most noiseless possible ; there are no wheeled carriages 
rolling along them, and the occasional step of a Chris- 
tian's ass, a camel, a mule, or more rarely of a horse, 
does not much disturb the mysterious stillness in which 
the city appears wrapped, until you approach the bazaars 
and other places of busy resort. 

The women of Damascus are esteemed the handsom- 
est in the East ; and, though the fame of their charms 
has no doubt been much enhanced by the difficulty of 
seeing them, they sometimes, from behind their tantaliz- 
ing clouds, pour forth a light that might dazzle the most 
discreet beholder. There is a very graceful style of co- 
quetry in the manner in which an Eastern belle displays 
her arms, which are the roundest and most perfect imag- 
inable. The fingers, covered with rings and dyed pink 
under the nails, play about the folds of the drapery, as if 
anxious to restore it to its place, in which, somehow or 
another, they can never succeed, when there is a sly op- 
portunity of disclosing the beauty it is meant to conceal. 
Large blue eyes are common among the Christian women, 
some of whom are exceedingly fair ; and there is a grace 
in the turban beyond all the arts of a civilized toilette. 



Sights of Damascus. 



287 



We cannot, we think, better close this chapter on sight- 
seeing in Damascus than by repeating the story which is 
told of two of its most celebrated governors, Assaad and 
Abdallah-el-Satadgi : 

About the year 1755, one of the black eunuchs of the 
seraglio of the then reigning sultan of Constantinople, 
making his pilgrimage to Mecca, took up his quarters 
with Assaad, then governor of Damascus ; but, dissatis- 
fied with the simple hospitality with which he was enter- 
tained, he would not return by Damascus, but took the 
road to Gaza. Hussein Pasha, who was then governor 
of that town, took care to entertain him sumptuously. 
The eunuch, on his return to Constantinople, did not 
forget the treatment he had received from his two hosts, 
and, to show at once his gratitude and his resentment, he 
determined to ruin Assaad and raise Hussein to his 
dignity. His intrigues were so successful that in the year 
1756 Jerusalem was detached from the government of 
Damascus and bestowed upon Hussein, under the title of 
a pashalic, and the following year he obtained that of 
Damascus. Assaad, thus deposed, retired with his house- 
hold into the Desert to avoid still greater disgrace. The 
time of the caravan arrived ; Hussein conducted it, agree- 
ably with the duty of his station ; but, having quarreled 
with the Arabs concerning some payment they demanded, 
they attacked him, defeated his escort, and entirely plun- 
dered the caravan, in 1757. On the news of this disaster 
the whole empire was thrown into as much confusion as 
could have been occasioned by the loss of the most im- 
portant battle. The families of twenty thousand pilgrims 
who had perished with thirst and hunger or been slain 
by the Arabs ; the relations of a multitude of women 
who had been carried into slavery ; the merchants inter- 
ested in the plundered caravan, all demanded vengeance 



288 The Old World— Palestine. 



on the cowardice of the Emir Hadj and the sacrilege of 
the Bedouins. The Porte, alarmed, at first proscribed 
the head of Hussein, but he concealed himself so well 
that it was impossible to surprise him ; while he, from 
his retreat, acting' in concert with the eunuch, his pro- 
tector, undertook to exculpate himself. In this he suc- 
ceeded, after three months, by producing a real or fictitious 
letter of Assaad, by which it appeared that the ex-pasha, 
to revenge himself on Hussein, had excited the Arabs to 
attack the caravan. The proscription was now turned 
against Assaad, and nothing remained to be sought but 
an opportunity to carry it into execution. 

The pashalic, however, remained vacant. Hussein, 
disgraced as he was, could not resume his government. 
The Porte, desiring to revenge the late affront and pro- 
vide for the safety of the pilgrims in future, made choice 
of a singular man, whose character and history deserve 
to be noticed. This man, named Abdallah-el-Satadgi, 
was born near Bagdad, in an obscure rank of life. En- 
tering very young into the service of the pasha, he had 
passed his early years in camps and war, and had been 
present as a common soldier in all the campaigns of the 
Turks against the famous Shah-Thamas-Kouli-Kan, and 
the bravery and abilities he displayed raised him, step by 
step, even to the dignity of pasha of Bagdad. Advanced 
to this eminent post, he conducted himself with so much 
firmness and prudence that he restored peace to the 
country from both foreign and domestic wars. The sim- 
ple life of the soldier, jwrhich he continued to lead, requir- 
ing no great supplies of money, he amassed none ; but 
the great officers of the seraglio of Constantinople, whc 
derived no profits for his moderation, did not approve of 
this disinterestedness, and waited only for a pretext to 
remove him. 



Sights of Damascus. 



289 



This they soon found. Abdallah had kept back a 
sum equaling twenty thousand dollars, arising from 
the estate of a merchant. Scarcely had the pasha re- 
ceived it before it was demanded of him. In vain did he 
represent that he had used it to pay some old arrears due 
to his troops ; in vain did he request time ; the vizier only 
pressed him the more closely, and, on a second refusal, 
despatched a black eunuch, secretly provided with a khat- 
sherif, to take off his head. The eunuch, arriving in 
Bagdad, feigned himself a sick person traveling for the 
benefit of his health ; and, as such, sent his respects to 
the pasha, observing the usual forms of politeness, and 
requesting permission to pay him a visit. Abdallah, 
well acquainted with the practices of the divan, was dis- 
trustful of so much complaisance, and suspected some 
secret mischief. His treasurer, not less versed in such 
plots and greatly attached to his person, confirmed him 
in his suspicions, and proposed, in order to come at the 
truth, to go and search the eunuch's baggage while he 
and his retinue should be paying their visit to the pasha. 
Abdallah approved of the expedient, and at the hour ap- 
pointed the treasurer repaired to the tent of the eunuch 
and made so careful a search that he found the khat- 
sherif concealed within the lining of a pelisse. Immedi- 
ately he flew to the pasha, and sending for him into an 
adjoining room, he told him what he had discovered. 
Abdallah, furnished with the fatal writing, hid it in his 
bosom and returned to the apartment, when, resuming, 
with an air of the greatest indifference, his. conversation 
with the eunuch, " The more I think of it," said he, " O 
Khowaga, the more I am astonished at your journey into 
this country ; Bagdad is so far from Stamboul, and we 
can boast so little of our air, that I can scarcely believe 
you have come hither for no other purpose than the re- 



290 The Old World — Palestine. 



establishment of your health." " It is true," replied the 
aga, u I am also commissioned to demand of you some- 
thing on account of the four hundred thousand piastres 
you received." " We will say nothing of that," answered 
the pasha ; " but come," he added in a determined tone, 
" confess that you have likewise orders to bring with you 
my head. Observe what I say ; you know my character, 
and you know my word may be depended on ; I now as- 
sure you that if you make an open declaration of the 
truth you shall depart without the least injury." The 
eunuch now began a long defence, protesting that he 
came with no such black intentions. " By my head" 
said Abdallah, " confess me the truth." The eunuch still 
denied. " By your head" he still denied. " Take care ! 
By the head of the sultan" he still persisted. " Be it _ 
so," said Abdallah, " the matter is decided ; thou hast 
pronounced thy own doom ;" and drawing forth the khat- 
sherif — "know you this paper? Thus you govern at 
Constantinople ! Yes, you are a gang of villains, who 
sport with the lives of whoever happens to displease you, 
and shed, without remorse, the blood of the sultan's 
servants. The vizier must have heads — he shall have one 
— off with the head of that dog and send it to Constanti- 
nople." The order was executed on the spot, and the 
eunuch's retinue were ordered to depart with their mas- 
ter's head. 

After this decisive stroke Abdallah might have availed 
himself of his popularity to revolt, but he chose rather to 
retire among the Koords. Here the pardon of the sultan 
was sent him, and a firman appointing him pasha of 
Damascus. Weary of his exile and destitute of money, 
he accepted the commission and set out with one hundred 
men who adhered to his fortunes. On his arrival on the 
frontiers of his new government he learned that Assaad 



Sights of Damascus. 



291 



was encamped in the neighborhood ; he had heard him 
spoken of as the greatest man in Syria, and was desirous 
of seeing him. He therefore disguised himself, and, ac- 
companied only by six horsemen, repaired to his camp 
and demanded to speak with him. He was introduced, 
as is usual in these camps, without much ceremony ; and, 
after the usual salutations, Assaad inquired of him whence 
he came and wither he was going. Abdallah replied he 
was one of six or seven Koord horsemen who were seek- 
ing employment, and who, hearing that Abdallah was 
appointed pasha of Damascus, were going to apply to 
him ; but being informed on their way that Assaad was 
encamped in the neighborhood, they had come to request 
of him provisions for themselves and their horses. " With 
pleasure," replied Assaad ; " but do you know Abdallah ?" 
"Yes." "What sort of a man is he? Is he fond of 
money?" "No. Abdallah cares very little for money, 
or pelisses, or shawls, or pearls, or women ; he is fond 
of nothing but well-tempered arms, good horses, and 
war. He does justice, protects the widow and the orphan, 
reads the Kur-an, and lives on butter and milk." "Is he 
old?" said Assaad. "Fatigue has made him to appear 
older than he is ; he is covered with wounds ; he has re- 
ceived a sabre-cut which has made him lame of his left 
leg, and another which makes him lean his head on his 
left shoulder. In short," said he, starting abruptly to his 
feet, "he is in shape and features exactly my picture." 
At these words Assaad turned pale and gave himself up 
for lost ; but Abdallah, sitting down again, said to him, 
" Brother, fear nothing ; I am come not to betray thee ; 
on the contrary, if I can render thee any service com- 
mand me, for we are both held in the same estimation by 
our masters ; they have recalled me because they wish to 
chastise the Bedouins ; when they have gratified their re- 
25 



292 The Old World — Palestine. 



venge on them, they will again lay plots to deprive me 
of my head. God is great; what he has decreed will 
come to pass." 

With these sentiments Abdallah repaired to Damascus, 
where he restored good order, put an end to the extortions 
of the soldier} 7 , and conducted the caravan, sabre in hand, 
without paying a piastre to the Arabs. During his ad- 
ministration, which lasted two years, the country enjoyed 
the most perfect tranquillity. The inhabitants of Damas- 
cus long remembered him with gratitude, saying that 
under his government they slept in security with open 
doors. He himself, frequently disguised as one of the 
poorest of the people, saw everything with his own eyes. 
The summary justice he sometimes inflicted in conse- 
quence of his discoveries under these disguises produced 
a salutary effect, and was long a favorite theme of con- 
versation among the people. It is said, for example, that 
being on his circuit at Jerusalem, he had prohibited his 
soldiers from either taking anything or imposing any 
order without paying. One day, when he was going 
about in the disguise of a poor man with a little plate of 
lentils in his hands, a soldier, who had a faggot on his 
shoulders, insisted on his carrying it. After some resist- 
ance, Abdallah took it on his back, whilst the soldier, fol- 
lowing him, drove him forward with oaths and curses. 
Another soldier, happening to recognize the pasha, made a 
sign to his comrade, who instantly took to his heels and 
escaped through the cross streets. After proceeding a 
few paces, Abdallah, no longer hearing his mail, turned 
round, and vexed at missing his aim, threw his burden on 
the ground, exclaiming, " The rascally knavish dog ! he 
has both robbed me of my hire and carried off my plate 
of lentils." But he did not long escape ; for a few days 
afterward the pasha, again surprising him in the act of 



Sights of Damascus. 



293 



robbing a poor woman's garden and ill-treating her, 
ordered his head struck off on the spot. 

As for himself, he was unable to ward off the destiny 
he had foreseen. After escaping several times from hired 
assassins, he was poisoned by his own nephew. This he 
discovered before he died ; and sending for his murderer, 
"Wretch that thou art," said he, "the villains have 
seduced thee ; thou hast poisoned me to profit by my 
spoils : it is in my power before I die to punish thee, but 
I will leave thy punishment in the hands of God." And 
so it came to pass that the nephew's head soon after paid 
the forfeit of his perfidy. 



CHAPTER XV. 



ANTI-LEBANON. 



HE time fixed for our departure from Damascus 



X having arrived, we order our tents struck, and at 3 
o'clock in the morning we start for Baalbec. Our course 
lies through Sulghiyeh, the chief suburb of the city, and 
we notice in passing quite a number of well-built public 
and private houses. Here we strike into a path which 
leads up the mountain-side, and for the next hour our 
horses and mules have a hard time in carrying us and 
our baggage up the path. The sun shines burning hot, 
and we feel its power more this morning than at any time 
heretofore. 

Finally, however, we reach the Kubbet-el-Nasr — Dome 
of Victory — and here we turn our horses' heads to take a 
last look over the valley and city of Damascus. 

There is a tradition current among the Mohammedans, 
that when their prophet beheld Damascus from this point 
he was so transported by the beauty of the scene, that 
he halted suddenly and would not descend to the city. 
" There is but one paradise destined for man," he ex- 
claimed ; " as for me, I am resolved not to choose mine in 
this world." The story is apocryphal, for Mohammed 
never- had it in his power to enter Damascus: it was not 
till two years after his death that Khaled and Yezid, the 




294 



Anti-Lebanon. 



295 



two generals of Aboo-bekr, his successor, defeated Herac- 
lius in a pitched battle near the city, which they took 
after a siege of six months, A.D. 634. Nevertheless, the 
fable has much meaning, even though it wants historical 
truth ; and it was to commemorate this event that the 
Moslems erected the dome upon the summit, and still 
keep it in good repair. The imagination of an Arab 
from the parched Hedjaz could hardly have conceived 
the existence of a more enchanting oasis beneath the 
heavens. 

The view from this dome is indeed very fine. The 
valley, about twenty miles in length by six in breadth, 
with the river Abana running through it, and little arms 
or rivulets leading oft' from it in every direction, and here 
and there a stuccoed village dotting the plain, presents a 
natural panorama such as is seldom met with on earth's 
broad surface. 

And then the city, nestled amid the tall, green poplar 
trees, with gilded domes and minarets pointing heaven- 
ward ; and the long lines of yellow-stuccoed houses and 
walls running hither and thither like threads of gold on a 
dark green surface ; and the silver chords of the Abana 
and Pharpar flashing out upon the eye ever and anon, as 
-they go dancing and gurgling amid the orange and lemon 
groves which surround the villas outside of the walls, 
form a picture of real and enchanting beauty. 

Never before have we so fully realized the truth that 
" distance lends enchantment to the view ;" for while 
we observe and acknowledge all the beauty of the picture 
as seen from this point, we know full well, from a previous 
and closer inspection, that the valley is now a compara- 
tively barren plain, while the houses and streets and 
walls of the city are anything but beautiful. 

Another hour's ride brings us to the village of Dumar, 



296 The Old World — Palestine. 



situated far down in a valley, along a stream, and sur- 
rounded by poplar trees ; and here we turn off in a path 
to our right — leaving the direct course — for the purpose 
of visiting the great fountain of the Barada, of which we 
have read glowing accounts. 

Ere long we reach the village of Messima, situated in 
a beautiful ravine, through which flow the waters of the 
Barada, and along the banks of which are a great num- 
ber of poplars, English walnuts, fig, and pomegranate 
trees. Little patches of wheat and barley are cultivated 
near this village, giving to the whole a home-like appear- 
ance such as is seldom met with in Syria. 

About 1 P.M. we reach the great fountain of the 
Barada, near the village of Feejee, and great is it indeed 
in every sense of the word. We were surprised and de- 
lighted with the size and grandeur of the fountains at 
Milaha and Banias, but this far exceeds either. Burst- 
ing out from beneath a great rock, it forms, from the very 
commencement, a good-sized river, which goes dashing 
and foaming down the valley with great force. Its waters 
are sweet, fresh, cool, and in every way spring-like, and 
but for this we should be inclined to regard it rather as 
the outlet of some large stream, which in some way had 
found a passage under the mountain, than as a fountain — « 
so great is the volume of water. 

In ancient times this fountain was covered with a tem- 
ple, the ruins of which are still to be seen. The large 
stones used in its construction, the arch o^er the foun- 
tain, and the niche which remains in the rear wall, in 
which probably stood a god or goddess, point to a Roman 
origin. The remains of other buildings near the temple 
are also observable, proving it to have been a spot not 
only of note, but of considerable size. 

Here we lunch, at the base of a tree, near the gush- 



Anti-Lebanon. 



297 



ing waters ; and while our inner man is strengthened 
with cold chicken, eggs, and vegetables, our ears are 
delighted with the music of the fountain as it gushes out 
from the mighty rock. 

The temple which formerly covered this fountain was 
called El-Fijeh. Thus Abulefa, in writing of it, says : 
" The source of the river Damascus is under a temple 

called El-Fijeh Afterward it unites with a river 

'called Barada ; and from hence come all the rivers of 
Damascus." And Edrisa, writing on the same subject, 
says : " The waters which irrigate the Ghutah come from 
a source called El-Fijeh, which rises upon the mountain ; 
they flow down from the mountain with a noise and roai- 
ing which is heard at a great distance." 

Dr. Robinson, in speaking of this locality and the foun- 
tain, says : " The course of the valley just here is about 
from west to east ; and the fountain issues from under the 
northern hill. The road makes a short sweep away from 
the river, in order to pass above the fountain. The latter 
bursts forth at once a full, large stream, considerably larger 
than the Barada higher up, and comparing well in size 
with the great fountain at Tell-el-Kady ; though the water 
is less beautiful and sparkling than that at Banias. The 
stream tumbles and foams along its rocky bed to the 
Barada, a distance of some twenty rods ; it is so broad 
and deep and violent that no one would undertake to ford 
it." Of the temple erected over the fountain he says : 
" We could not resist the conclusion that this structure 
was once a vaulted platform sustaining a small temple, 
erected over an artificial branch of the fountain. The 
workmanship is simple and rude, and points to a high 
antiquity." What he means by "artificial branch" in this 
connection we do not understand, unless he refers to 
some other than the principal fountain. 



298 The Old World—Palestine. 



Prime says of this fountain : "It is the finest fountain in 
the world. I had thought so of Tell-el-Kady*and of Ba- 
nias, but this surpassed them both. It springs out like a 
living thing. It is strong, furious, noble in its first plunge, 
and it goes down the ravine as if it had a great work to 
accomplish somewhere and were hastening to it." 

A number of the villagers — mostly women and children 
— come down to look at the Howajjis, and when we as- 
cend the bank to mount our horses, each of them raises' 
the cry of bucksheesh. To each of the smaller ones we 
give a piece of money, but the larger ones we try to shame 
by telling them that they should work rather than beg ; 
but we presume the lesson is lost upon them, as they can- 
not understand a word we say. Some of the little girls 
present Lily with bouquets of flowers, expecting, and of 
course receiving, bucksheesh in exchange. 

The village of Feejee, near by, is small, and has nothing 
about it worthy of note except its delightful situation near 
this great fountain and its surroundings of luxuriously 
growing trees. 

Soon after leaving the fountain we come within sight of 
the cliffs of Abila, on the summit of which Moslem tradi- 
tion locates the grave of Abel, who, they say, was murdered 
by Cain at Zebdani, a village some fifteen miles further 
northward. This reported grave of Abel is a mound some 
twenty-five feet in length, and near it are the ruins of an 
ancient temple — when, or by whom built, no one can now 
say. 

Somewhere near this — possibly on the table-land of the 
cliff — once stood the city of Abila, of which not a single 
trace now remains. 

Before leaving Damascus we order our muleteers (from 
whom we separated at Dumar) to pitch our tents at Zeb- 
dani, as we wished to make but two days' journey between 



An ti-Lebanon. 



299 



that citv and Baalbec. Judge, then, of our surprise, on 
reaching SukAYady-Barada, to find our tents pitched here, 
with the American flag flying beautifully from the flag- 
staff and the muleteers arranging for a nighf s repose. It 
is their first act of disobedience of orders, and might be 
overlooked on the plea they make that here they have the 
company of others who have had orders to pitch at this 
place : but as it will entail on us an extra day's journey if 
submitted to. we resolve to remedy it at once. Riding 
down to the tents, we order them taken down and reloaded 
immediately, and when the head muleteer commences to 
make explanations and excuses, we raise our cane and 
threaten to break it over his head unless he obeys us im- 
mediately. This has the desired effect, and in less than 
thirty- minutes both tents and baggage are reloaded on the 
mules and ready for a start. Had we flogged the rascal, 
it would have done him good, and we regret since that we 
did not. These Moslem dragomen and muleteers need an 
occasional flogging to make them know their places, and 
from none but an American would they ever expect to get it. 
It is too common with travelers to submit to their imposi- 
tions as if thev were their servants rather than their 
masters. 

From SukAYady-Barada the ravine becomes more nar- 
row and picturesque, and the stream along which we pass, 
and through which we have to wade our horses for some 
distance, because of the narrow and dangerous condition 
of the path along its banks, rushes furiously and madly by. 
Our horses stumble along over the large stones in the bed 
of the stream, and once or twice we come very near being 
unhorsed. A bath in the boiling, bubbling waters of this 
stream, with hard stones to lie upon, would not be half so 
pleasant as the one we unexpectedly had in the Jordan. 

The hillsides along this stream, near where a lofty stone 



300 The Old World— Palestine. 



bridge crosses it, are perforated with the doors of tombs, 
and below these the remains of a road and' aqueduct, cut 
through the solid rock, can be traced, showing conclu- 
sively that a large city once stood somewhere near, though 
no other remains of it are now traceable. 

The long day's march which we have laid out for our- 
selves will not allow of our stopping to examine either the 
tombs or the ancient road ; but Dr. Robinson, in writing 
of the former, says : " They are laboriously wrought, and 
some of them are reached by long nights of steps: The 
whole cliff is somewhat curved, and forms a sort of am- 
phitheatre. Mr. Robson (his companion in travel) had 
climbed up to several and examined them in the summer 
of 1848. One which he entered was a square chamber, 
having two crypts on each side, with two niches in each 
crypt ; also one crypt with four niches opposite the door, 
beside four niches {loculi) in the floor of the chamber 
itself. Other tombs are similar, some larger and some 
smaller. Some are simply a recess cut into the face of 
the rock, about seven feet long and two deep, arched at 
the top and in the bottom a single loculus for a corpse. 
All these single tombs had formerly lids of stone, like 
those of sarcophagi ; but all have been opened. In the 
cliff on the southern bank is a single sepulchral excava- 
tion, a little further up the stream. On the top of the 
north-western cliff, above the sepulchres, are said to be 
extensive ancient quarries." 

In writing of the road he says : " The most remarkable 
of all the remains is the ancient road, excavated along 
the face of the north-western cliff, a hundred feet above 
the modern road and bridge. It begins at the angle of 
the hill where the valley bends round from the west ; and 
there is no difficulty in climbing up to it in that quarter. 
The sides of the chasm are here from six hundred to 



Anti-Lebanon. 



301 



eight hundred feet in height. The road extends along 
the face of the cliff for about two hundred yards. It is 
finely cut through the solid rock fifteen feet wide. In 
some parts on the river-side a thin portion of the rock is 
left, of various heights, as a guard ; in other parts a wall 
was probably built up. At the north-western end this 
road breaks off abruptly in a precipice of rock rising 
from the sloping bank below. If the road was ever 
continued farther, it must have been sustained on arti- 
ficial and temporary supports ; since the ancient aque- 
duct which passes just below it, and extends along the 
face of the cliff beyond, serves to show that there has 
been no fall of the rock nor change in its general 
features. It is not easy to see how the road was con- 
tinued, or, if ended here, what purpose it could have 
served." 

It is near seven o'clock before we reach Zebdani, and 
although we are ready to stop for the night, our situation 
is not the most pleasant ; we are chilled by the cold 
winds from the snows of Mount Hermon, which sweep 
through the valley furiously ; the blackness of darkness 
seems to be gathering about us, portending a fearful 
storm in the night, and we are all alone, our former com- 
panions in travel having stopped at Suk-Wady-Barada. 
Nevertheless we are here and must abide the issue. We 
order our tent-cords doubled — the curtains tied down 
tight and snug — a pan of coals brought in to warm our 
feet — and, after dinner, we read and write until time to 
retire. 

The wind continues to blow furiously all night, but 
fortunately no rain accompanies it, and we pass the night 
with some degree of comfort. 

Next morning we are en route for Baalbec. The hour 
was too late, and too many other things demanded our 



302 The Old World — Palestine. 



attention, to see Zebdani on the evening of our arrival ; 
but we take a stroll through the town on the morning of 
our departure. 

This town contains about three thousand inhabitants, 
and is situated in a valley which in many respects has 
the most American, home-like appearance of anything 
we have seen in Syria. The fields are square, with gate- 
ways and good hedge fences, and are generally well 
cultivated. The orchards are planted regularly in rows, 
and all the fruit trees are carefully pruned and cared for. 
The houses scattered throughout the valley, and even 
those of the town, are of a better class and look far more 
comfortable than those generally found throughout this 
country. Indeed, one might easily imagine that a lot of 
American farmers had, in some way, got possession of 
this valley, and were showing the indolent Syrians how 
things can be done. Why the difference between this 
and other parts of Syria we have no means of know- 
ing, but that the difference exists any one will at once 
observe. 

Not far from Zebdani is the village of Bludin, where, 
it is said, the more wealthy citizens of this part of the 
country make their summer residences. It is located a 
thousand feet above the valley, and looks picturesque in 
the distance, though a nearer view would probably reveal 
the ragged appearance which characterizes other Syrian 
villages. 

Back of Zebdani rise the mountains of Anti-Lebanon, 
from six to seven thousand feet in height. Our course 
lies partly over these, and the path by which we ascend 
is narrow and difficult. 

Several times while climbing the mountain we stop 
and look back at the valley below. It seems like again 
leaving the old familiar scenes of home, and we think 



Anti-Lebanon. 



303 



and talk of friends far, far away across the broad 
Atlantic. 

Oh what would we not give just now to be seated for an 
hour on the broad veranda of one of our Jersey farmer 
friends, to talk over the familiar affairs of home, and 
drink such milk and eat such apples as only they can 
furnish. 

Up, and still up — over, and still over — all the time 
within sight of snow, but never reaching it — our backs 
burning from the piercing rays of the sun, and our bodies 
chilled from the cold winds whistling about us — some- 
times going along precipitous hillsides and looking down 
in ravines a thousand feet below — then deep down in a 
valley, and anon on a summit, looking far away at other 
summits and mountain-ranges — thus we travel and thus 
we go until we come within sight of the great plain 
which lies between the mountains of Anti-Lebanon and 
the true Lebanon, where the cedars of the temple grew, 
and where snow-capped summits for ever keep watch 
over the sunny vales below. 

Once fairly in the valley, we seek the first favorable 
place for lunching, and find it beside a little stream, and 
beneath the shadow of an overhanging rock. 

Lunching over, we again mount our horses and proceed 
up the valley toward Baalbec. The valley is broad and 
beautiful, and was once, probably, highly cultivated, though 
it is now almost a barren. The roads are smooth, and as 
a storm is threatening, we let our horses gallop along at 
full speed. Lily and Lu occasionally run a race, while 
Mohammed and I follow along as out-riders. On our right 
are the mountains of Anti-Lebanon, and on our left the 
true Lebanon, the summits of both of which are covered 
with snow, and the cold winds from which sweep through 
the valley, occasionally with great force. 



304 The Old World— Palestine. 



We have, now and then, a laugh at Mohammed as we 
ride along, because of his inability to remember the word 
Lebanon, though his recollection of names generally is 
very good. Whenever he attempts to speak of Lebanon, 
he calls it " de mountain of de trees — what you call him ?" 
He has been to the " cedars" with other travelers, and 
knows all about the road thither and the mountain itself, 
but for some cause or other the name escapes him when- 
ever he attempts to speak it. 

About four o'clock in the afternoon we approach Baal- 
bec, but instead of going direct to the town we make a 
detour to the right to visit the fountains near by and the 
ruins which surround them. 

These fountains are about three-fourths of a mile from 
the town, in a south-easterly direction, and must at one 
time have been highly prized, as about them are ruins of 
cut stone which, in the day of their freshness, were prob- 
ably very beautiful. 

The largest of these ruins was a temple, with arched 
windows, doorways, and roof. Sculptured stones still 
remain over the doorways within, but the inscriptions are 
so defaced that nothing can be learned from them. The 
central doorway, looking eastward, is quite large, with 
an arch of cut stones, as perfect to-day as when first built, 
probably two thousand years ago. Through this temple 
runs a stone aqueduct, supplied with water from the foun- 
tains above. 

There are several points where the water bursts forth, 
and two of the principal fountains have a semi-circular 
wall of handsomely cut stone about them. The waters 
from all the fountains come together near the larger ruin, 
and from this point there is formed a considerable stream 
which flows toward the town. 

It is probable that when the temples of Baalbec were 



Anti-Lebanon. 



305 



in their glory, the waters of these fountains were held in 
high repute, and were conducted in viaducts to the tem- 
ples. At present they waste their sweetness in the marsh 
below, with none so poor as to do them reverence. 

About 5 P. M. we reach the ruins of Baalbec, and have 
our tents pitched within the very walls of the temple ; 
but for a description of these we must refer the reader to 
the next chapter. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



BAALBEC. 



HE ruins of Baalbec have long been the wonder and 



X admiration of tourists from all parts of the world, 
yet little is known of their real history, and so various 
have been the theories put forth by different authors with 
regard to them that the traveler of to-day is left as much 
in the dark concerning their origin as though he had just 
discovered them himself on the great Desert of Arabia. 

Whether the temples, once so grand and beautiful, 
which stood within this enclosure were built by Solomon 
for his Egyptian wife, or whether they were erected by 
the Persians, the Greeks, or the Romans, during their 
successive occupancy of this country, no one can now say 
of a certainty. 

Jewish, Doric, Tuscan, and Corinthian architecture is 
found amid the ruins, so that no clue can be had of their 
origin from this department of science ; and the immense 
stones which are found in one portion of the ruins, and 
the mystery by which such stones were quarried and 
raised to their position, makes the problem of the origin 
of these ruins still more difficult to solve. 

The most probable of the theories, we think, is that 
different portions of these structures were built at differ- 
ent periods of the world's history, and under the rule of 




306 



Baalbec. 



307 



different dynasties — each ruler trying to outdo the other 
in the additions and alterations made. Such is the well- 
known history of the great temple, or successive temples, 
of Karnak, on the Nile, and these may have been erected 
in a similar manner. 

The first view of the ruins, though grand and imposing, 
is anything but satisfactory ; and it is only after we have 
walked around and viewed them from every side, and 
then made a careful survey and analysis of the structures 
within, viewing one in relation to the other, searching out 
parallels and dividing lines, marking the foundation- 
stones and the relation of one line with another, observ- 
ing the semi-circular temples around the walls and the 
relation they probably bore to the great temple, that we 
arrive at any correct idea with regard to them. 

All this we do, first on our arrival in the afternoon and 
evening, and then again, still more carefully, on the fol- 
lowing day ; but, notwithstanding all the pains taken, 
much remains in doubt and perplexity to us, and will for 
ever thus remain to all future explorers. 

The ruins proper embrace an area of about nine hun- 
dred feet in one direction by about five hundred in an- 
other. The present, and possibly the original, entrance 
within the high, thick walls which make the outer en- 
closure to all the temples, is through one of the arched 
vaults, of which three form the base of the artificial plat- 
form on which the temples were built. This platform is 
raised about thirty feet above the average level of the 
plain, and is formed by three arched passage-ways — two 
running in one direction and one in another — which are 
underneath, having vaulted rooms running out from their 
sides, and the interstices filled in with earth and masonry. 

What was the original destination of these vaulted 

rooms it is now impossible to tell ; but the Arabs, who 
26* 



308 The Old World— Palestine, 



ascribe the whole structure to the great magician, Solo- 
mon, and the jins who wrought his behests, imagine 
them to be depositories for treasure. Indeed, it is a uni- 
versal belief among the Turks and Arabs that every great 
mass of ruins lies over mighty heaps of treasure ; nor can 
they be persuaded that Europeans visit them for any other 
purpose than that of carrying off the spoil. The huge 
structures of Baalbec were reared, they think, by the power 
of cabalistic words ; and they suppose the Franks, who are 
known to be great magicians, can uplift them by their 
spells, and possess themselves of what lies beneath them. 
Nay, there are natives, too, they say, who can exercise 
this forbidden power if their admirable conscientiousness 
did not forbid them to do so. " One of our Arab friends," 
says Madame Lamartine, " a man of good information 
and judgment, has frequently assured us, with every pos- 
sible mark of internal conviction, that a sheikh of Leba- 
non possessed the secret of the magic words that had 
been employed in primitive times to move the gigantic 
blocks of Baalbec, but that he was too good a Christian 
ever to make use of them or to divulge them." When 
questioned on the subject at Baalbec, Burckhardt made 
answer, " The treasures of this country are not beneath 
the earth ; they come from God, and are above the sur- 
face of the earth. Work your fields and sow them, and 
you will find the greatest treasure in an abundant harvest." 
" By your life" (a common oath) "truth comes from your 
lips," was the reply. 

The vaults, heretofore described in this volume, as 
forming the substructure of the large area in front of the 
Mosque of Omar, on Mount Moriah, Jerusalem, and on 
which the great Temple of Solomon, no doubt, stood, 
are very much of the same character as these at Baalbec ; 
and this fact, more than any other, has induced many to 



Baalbec. 



think that both structures were erected under the direc- 
tion of the same master mind. 

The evident object of this raised platform at Baalbec, 
as at Jerusalem, was to give to the temples an elevation 
far above the surrounding plain, without marring their 
architectural proportions. Had the temples themselves 
been built thirty feet higher than they were, the relative 
proportions would have been lost and the beauty of de- 
sign utterly destroyed. Hence the necessity of first mak- 
ing an artificial hill, or platform, on which the founda- 
tions, as well as the superstructures, might be laid and 
built. 

On emerging from the passage-way, within the walls, 
the first objects which strike the eye are the six immense 
columns which are all that remain standing of the fifty- 
four which once surrounded the Temple of the Sun. 
These columns are of Corinthian architecture, seventy- 
five feet high by about seven in diameter, and the base 
and caps remain almost as perfect as when first erected. 
The entablature over these six columns is also well pre- 
served and shows great beauty of design and finish. 
Each .stone of the entablature reaches from column to 
column, a distance of fifteen feet, and the thickness of 
each is about the same as the length. 

These six columns, in fact, are no larger than those 
about the Temple of Jupiter, near by, though they look, 
at first sight, much higher and thicker, because of their 
more elevated and isolated position. 

The bases of many of the other columns which sur- 
rounded this temple are still in their original position — 
some on the same foundation-wall where the six remain 
standing, and others in the two outer walls, which orig- 
inally formed a part of this structure. The Saracens, 
when they converted these ruins into a fortification for 



3io The Old World — Palestine. 



defensive purposes, piled other stones on the outer walls 
and thereby obscured, and partly walled in, some of the 
column-bases, so that only by close observation can they 
now be traced. 

The foundations of this Temple of the Sun, which can 
still be traced, show it to have been about three hundred 
feet in length by about one hundred and sixty in breadth, 
and so constructed that the western end was somewhat 
more elevated than the eastern. Of course this elevation 
was only of the floor within, and not observable without, 
else it would have greatly marred the architectural beauty 
of the building. Only a small portion of the entrance- 
way to this great temple remains, but sufficient to show 
that it must have been of great beauty. In front of this 
temple was, and still is, a large quadrangular court, 
around the outer walls of which are several semi-circular 
temples, in which the niches, where gods were placed, 
are still observable. These niches are ornamented with 
sculpture-work above, and formerly had a small column 
at each side. Some of them are cut to represent scallop- 
shells, odd and beautiful. 

Various are the conjectures as to the use of these semi- 
circular temples : Were they chapels or shrines for the 
worship of subordinate deities? or recesses for the phi- 
losophers to sit and lecture in ? or lodgings for the priests ? 
or was the great court a forum, and were these sheltered 
places intended for the convenience of the merchants, the 
civil functionaries, or the people ? It is in vain we toil 
after a solution of these enigmas ; we cannot re-construct 
in thought, and re-people as of old, the public buildings 
of an age, or of a nation of whose religious or secular 
usages we have no thorough knowledge. Nevertheless 
our ignorance of the purposes for which these chambers 
were intended cannot mar our admiration of their exceed- 



Baalbec. 



ing beauty and richness of decoration, and of the singu- 
larly picturesque effect which results from the mixture 
of the garlands and the large foliage of the capitals with 
the living sculpture of wild plants that spring from every 
chink and profusely adorn the stone. 

The quadrangular court is filled with ruins of various 
smaller buildings, all of which, at one time, no doubt, were 
connected in some way with the Great Temple. 

Following out the same line of direction, and passing 
through what was once a large door or passage-way, we 
enter into a hexagonal court, around which are niches for 
statues, and on each side of which is a square room, pro- 
bably occupied by the grand wardens of the temple. Pass- 
ing through this court, with our face still eastward, we 
reach what has doubtless been the grand portico and the 
steps leading up from the plain below. On each side of 
this entrance there has been a square tower, scarcely a 
trace of which now remains, and of the grand stairway 
nothing exists. 

Retracing our steps through the hexagonal and quad- 
rangular courts, and bearing a little to the left, we reach 
the Temple of Jupiter, which stands upon a railroad plat- 
form ten feet lower than that of the Temple of the Sun, 
and directly south of it. 

This temple is still in good preservation, and the dif- 
ferent portions of it can be traced with much satisfaction. 
Many of its columns have fallen, and much of its sculp- 
ture has been broken off or defaced, but from the columns 
and sculpture which remain its original construction and 
beauty can be readily understood. 

The outside measurement of this temple is two hundred 
and thirty feet in length by one hundred and twenty in 
width. A portico surrounded the building, the roof of 
which was supported by forty columns, many of which 



312 



The Old World — Palestine. 



remain standing. The shafts of these columns were plain, 
and of the same height and thickness as those of the Tem- 
ple of the Sun, except four of the inner front columns, 
which were fluted. The capitals are of the Corinthian 
order and of great beauty. The ceiling of the portico is 
composed of immense stones, which reach from the enta- 
blature to the walls of the main building, and on the under 
side of which are carvings of gods and goddesses, fruits, 
flowers, etc. 

To enter this temple we pass through a hole in the wall, 
erected by the Saracens, immediately in front of it. This 
brings us in front of the grand door-way, the jams of which 
are elaborately and beautifully carved, and on the under- 
sill of the stones which form the top of the doorway is the 
carving of an eagle, with a cupid on either side. The 
centre or keystone of these three has been shaken from its 
position by the earthquake which destroyed the other por- 
tions of the temple, and now hangs in a position threat- 
ening destruction to whoever passes under it. 

Once within the temple, its gorgeous beauty strikes the 
eye from every point. Its carvings are intricate and of 
innumerable patterns, and we observe among them many 
of the styles and patterns used in public buildings of the 
present day. Around the walls are recesses for statues, 
in each of which, doubtless, stood a god or goddess of ex- 
quisite workmanship. 

About twenty feet from the west end, the remains of a 
curtain of masonry and of two pedestals are observable. 
On each of these pedestals probably stood a colossal figure 
of a god, and at the farther end, partly concealed by the 
side curtains, the statue of Jupiter himself. Behind this 
curtain was the altar where the priests offered their obla- 
tions, and from whence they breathed blessings and curses 
upon their deluded followers. 



Baalbec. 



313 



On each side of the main entrance to this temple is a 
square tower, with a circular stairway leading from the 
bottom to the top. To enter one of these we descend a 
steep declivity and pass through a narrow doorway. Then 
up and up for some fifteen minutes, and we reach the top, 
where we haye a fine view of the ruins as a whole, and 
of the surrounding country. 

The injuries which this temple has sustained have most 
of them resulted from barbarian violence, and the same, 
we presume, may be said of the others. The columns 
especially have been destroyed for the sake of the iron bars 
bv which they were held together. Think of the igno- 
ranee and barbarism which would destroy a beautiful 
column, the cost of which must have equaled thousands 
of dollars, to obtain a few iron bars and a few pounds of 
lead, the entire worth of which would not equal twenty 
dollars ! 

The tottering condition of the beautiful portal of the 
Temple of Jupiter, however, has been produced by a con- 
cussion more destructive than even the mutilating hand of 
the Moslem — the tremendous earthquake of 1750. The 
key-stone had sunk eight inches in Volney's time, and has 
continued to descend, slowly, but surely, until it is now 
more than three feet below its original position. The 
least new shock will bring it to the ground, and with 
it the whole architrave. As we pass underneath this 
threatening stone two or three times, we cannot refrain 
from looking up and hastening our steps — just a little. 

" The ornaments of this doorway," says Lord Lindsay, 
" are exquisitely delicate, especially the ears of corn and 
the grapes and vine leaves. It was not until a second or 
third visit that we discovered the little elves or genii lurk- 
ing among the leaves in the lower compartments formed 
by the intertwining vine. The rolling frieze, the cornice, 



314 The Old World — Palestine. 



the graceful scroll, I have no words to express their 
beauty." 

About one hundred and fifty yards from the Temple of 
Jupiter there is a beautiful little Corinthian temple, circular 
within and without, and pierced externally with handsome 
niches, each flanked by two columns, so as to give the build- 
ing the appearance of an octagon. Wreaths are gracefully 
suspended from the cornice over each niche. A more ele- 
gant little edifice we have seldom seen. Earthquakes have 
sadly shaken it, and four pillars only are standing. A 
weeping willow bends over it, like Beauty mourning over 
Genius. This building was used in Pococke's time as a 
Christian church. 

In coming out of the Temple of Jupiter we turn to the 
right, and by passing along its southern side, over broken 
columns and large stones, clambering up here and down 
there, we finally reach the outside of the walls, and from 
thence proceed to examine the immense stones, of which 
so much has been written, and about which so many con- 
jectures have been made. 

These stones are twenty in number, and are located on 
the west and north sides. Those on the north side form a 
wall by itself upon which no superstructure was ever built. 
These are ten in number, averaging about thirty feet in 
length, thirteen feet in height, and ten feet six inches in 
thickness. There is about ten feet space between this wall 
and that of the temple, or the raised platform on which 
the temple stood. Why this wall should have been left 
thus isolated no one can now tell. 

On the west side we find six stones, the total length of 
which is one hundred and eighty-nine feet, being an average 
of thirty-one and a half feet each, and of the same height 
and thickness as the ten on the north side. Another one 
of these huge stones, about the same size as the others, 



Baalbec. 



315 



forms the corner and connecting link between the first ten 
and last six. 

But the stones which have excited the greatest wonder 
and admiration are the three which lie upon and exactly 
cover the six on the west side. These three are each sixty- 
three feet in length, thirteen feet in height, and their width 
probably the same as the others. The wall of the platform 
continues upward from these, and of course there is no 
way to get at their exact width. 

There is but one other cut stone in the known world so 
large as these, and this we see afterward in a quarry about 
a mile from the ruins ; the same quarry, doubtless, from 
which the other three were taken. This last is about 
sixty-nine feet in length, seventeen in height and fourteen 
in thickness. It is accurately squared and trimmed on all 
sides, save the lower and at one end. This, with other 
examples of like character, though of smaller size, in the 
same quarry, proves that it was the custom of the ancients 
to square and dress their stones while quarrying them, 
instead of taking them out in the rough and dressing them 
near where they are to be finally laid, as is the custom at 
present. 

We noticed in the sandstone and granite quarries along 
the Nile, in Egypt, that a like custom prevailed there. 

Lamartine, in writing of these stones and of the walls 
which encircle the temples, says : 

" Beautiful as are the structures we have described, and 
replete as they are with interest and delight for any person 
pretending to the slightest taste for works of art, they yield 
as objects of wonder to the wall which encircles them, or 
rather upon which they stand, for their base is nearly on 
a level with its top. The site of the ruins is nearly a dead 
level, on which has been reared a platform a thousand feet 
long, six hundred broad, and varying in height from fifteen 
27 



316 The Old World — Palestine. 



to thirty feet. This prodigious mass of masonry is wholly 
composed of huge cut stones, many of which are nine 
paces long, ten feet broad, and six feet thick ; and three 
of them are more than double that length. They are cut 
with the beveled edge, exactly like the cutting of the stones 
in the subterranean columns of the Haram Shereef in Je- 
rusalem, which Dr. Richardson considered to be of Jewish 
workmanship ; and he thinks it highly probable that both 
structures were the work of the same people, and nearly 
of the same era. Among the cities enumerated in the 
eighth chapter of Chronicles, as being built by Solomon, 
is Baalath in Lebanon. The similarity of name and situ- 
ation identifies it at once with Baalbec ; and Baalath is 
mentioned by Josephus as one of the places of pleasure 
erected by that king in Syria, on account of the temperate 
nature of the climate, the delicacy of the fruits, and the ex- 
cellence of the air and water. It may possibly be that 
these are the remains of the House of the Forest of Leba- 
non, described in i Kings, ch. vii. as formed of ' costly 
stones, according to the measures of hewed stones, sawed 
with saws within and without, even from the foundation 
to the coping, and so on the outside toward the great 
court, and the foundation was of costly stones, even great 
stones, stones of ten cubits and stones of eight cubits.' 

" The second builders of this enormous pile have built 
upon the foundations of the former edifice ; and, in order 
that the appearance of the whole might be of one date, 
they cut a new surface upon the old stones. This ope- 
ration has not been completely finished, and some of the 
stones remain half cut, exhibiting part of the old surface 
and part of the new, so that the different eras of the build- 
ing are exemplified in the same stone. Three of the 
blocks lying near each other in the western wall are so 
enormous that early travelers seemed almost afraid to de- 



Baalbec. 



317 



clare their dimensions. One of them measures sixty-three 
feet long, nearly fourteen feet broad, and nine feet thick ; 
the others do not differ much from it in size. These are, 
perhaps, the most ponderous masses that human hands or 
machinery ever moved into a wall, and here they are be- 
tween twenty and thirty feet above the foundation. Dr. 
Richardson doubts, however, that they formed any part of 
the original wall ; they do not harmonize with that which 
is around them, and the part below them is the repaired, 
not the original wall. He supposes that they were lowered 
to the present position by the workmen who found them 
lying useless on the top of the platform ; and Lord Lind- 
say, who adopts this conjecture, imagines that they may 
have been the intended material for three pillars of the 
great temple, no trace of which or even of their bases he 
could discover. But here we are met by another puzzling 
difficulty. The existing columns are in three several pieces, 
whilst these stones are alone of a size sufficient each for 
the construction of a whole one. The quarry from which 
these blocks were extracted is about a mile from the ruins ; 
the material is compact limestone. There is now lying 
in it a block ready shaped, smoothed and planed, which 
measures sixty-nine feet two inches in length, twelve feet 
ten inches in breadth, and thirteen feet three inches in 
thickness. Wood, the architect, who saw this stone in 
1 75 1, computes it to contain 14,128 cubic feet, and to 
weigh, supposing its specific gravity to be the same as 
that of Portland stone, 2,270,000 lbs., or 1135 tons; and 
this stone was hewn out by manual labor, and prepared to 
be transported a mile to be built into a wall !" 

The queries which naturally arise in viewing such stones 
are, why they quarried them of such immense size for 
building purposes, and how, when quarried, did they ever 
raise them in position ? 



318 The Old World — Palestine. 

The answer to the first probably is, that having no gun- 
powder or other means of blasting, and being obliged to 
cut with chisels each separate stone from its native bed, 
they found it more expeditious to cut one large than seve- 
ral smaller masses. But as to the means of moving and 
placing them in position no one at the present day can give a 
reasonable answer. No instrument, sculptures, engravings, 
plans, or history of any kind remain by which we can learn, 
how they did such herculean work, and certainly no 
builder of the present day would undertake such a labor ; 
nor with all our vaunted knowledge of mechanics, and of 
all branches of natural philosophy, are we at all certain 
that it could be done if undertaken. 

Diligent search has been made among the ruins to find 
inscriptions, hoping thereby, if found, to trace something 
of the history of the temples, but efforts in this direction 
thus far have proved of little worth. The Latin inscrip- 
tion quoted in Dr. Robinson's work only reveals the name 
" Heliopolis" (of the Sun), and then proceeds to salute or 
laud the Roman emperor in whose time the inscription 
was chiseled ; but it is by no means certain, we think, from 
this, that the temples were built by the Romans or in their 
time, while the two Greek inscriptions found by Mr. Prime 
in one of the small chapels, and which seemed to him only 
to mark the seats of priests or teachers, are so imperfect 
that nothing can be determined as to their meaning. 

Taken as a whole, these ruins of Baalbec are among 
the grandest in the world. They do not equal in extent 
those of Karnak, near Thebes, but in exquisite workman- 
ship they are superior. To an antiquarian they present 
the study of a lifetime. 

We should earnestly recommend all tourists who may 
visit Palestine to spend the additional time it may take 
to visit the ruins of Baalbec. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



AMONG THE MARONITES. 




UR sight-seeing at Baalbec ended, we turn our face 
toward the sea. 



Our hearts bound at the thought of turning our faces 
once more westward ; for, hereafter, every day's journey 
will bring us nearer home and friends. 

Those who are sitting by their cozy fireside, and who, 
as they read these chapters, wish themselves where we 
are now. will scarcely appreciate this feeling of ours. 
They will wonder how it can be that one who is traveling 
in the far-famed East, and seeing such glorious, time- 
honored sights as we are seeing, and enjoying what seems 
an almost perpetual summer, with flowers blooming by 
the wayside and sparkling fountains bursting out from 
the hillsides, can possibly wish himself once more amid 
the blue hills of New Jersey ; but let such try the experi- 
ment as we have tried it, traveling week after week on 
horseback, over mountains the most desolate and roads 
the most horrible of which the mind can conceive, sleep- 
ing in tents, and living on mutton and chicken, and 
chicken and mutton, until their very names seem nau- 
seous, having no letters or papers from home for over a 
month, and not knowing, in the mean time, whether the 

world has " turned upside down," or still keeps on the 
27 * 319 



320 The Old World— Palestine. 



" even tenor of its way," being daily and hourly in con- 
tact with men with •whom we can have no sympathies in 
common, and whom we fairly loathe for their lack of civil- 
ization and Christian courtesy — let them, we say, try all 
this as we have tried and still are trying it, and if they 
don't doubly and trebly realize the value of home and 
friends, and wish themselves among them, they will have 
less of the common feelings of humanity than we give 
most men credit for. 

And yet, after saying all this, we cannot but add that, 
notwithstanding all the hardships of our trip through 
Palestine, we do not regret having taken it ; nor would 
we have what we have seen and enjoyed effaced from our 
memory for a thousand times its cost. 

It is something for one to remember during the balance 
of a lifetime that he has looked upon the spot where 
Jesus was born ; where he spent the earlier years of his 
earthly life, and commenced his ministry ; where he was 
baptized ; where he did " many wonderful works" along 
the shores of the Sea of Galilee, and at other memorable 
places throughout the Holy Land ; where he agonized in 
spirit while his disciples slept ; where he was crucified ; 
where he was buried, and from whence he arose tri- 
umphant from the grave ! 

One can well afford to endure some discomforts to see 
and feel all this ; and yet, having seen, and felt, and re- 
alized, the mind instinctively turns toward home — sweet 
home ! — as the place of all places most devoutly to be 
wished for. 

Before leaving Baalbec, however, we take occasion to 
see the few other ruins which surround the place, and of 
which we must here add a short description. 

We visit what remains of the once beautiful, though 
oddly constructed, Mosque of Salah-e'deen. We say 



Among the Maronites. 



321 



oddly constructed, for most of the columns used in the 
erection of this structure were taken from the ruined tem- 
ples near by, and placed in the mosque without reference 
to size or material. Hence we find, standing side by 
side, a large column and a smaller one — one of porphyry, 
another of granite, and a third of marble — one of Doric 
and another of Corinthian architecture. The walls are 
of like intermixture — large stones and small, smooth 
stones and rough, beveled stones and plain ; while here 
and there the Saracens added something of their own 
style and workmanship, which makes confusion worse 
confounded. 

The only interest which attaches itself to the ruins of 
this mosque is, that here, it is said, lie the remains of the 
great Salah-e'deen ; for, Turk and infidel though he was, 
his genius and generalship are not to be doubted. He it 
was that fought the Crusaders at the gates of Jaffa, and 
finally routed them completely and took from them the 
Holy Cross on the Plain of Hattin. And when he had 
thus completely subdued his foes and was himself master 
of the situation, he acted toward them so magnanimous a 
part that pen and pencil have since been employed by 
Christian hands to commemorate his name. 

His tomb is now wholly neglected, and, unless some 
friendly hand looks after it soon, its whereabouts will no 
longer be traceable. 

The modern town of Baalbec is scarcely worthy of no- 
tice. It contains but a few hundred inhabitants, its houses 
are small, streets narrow and rough, and, but for the ruins 
near by, no tourist would think of visiting it. 

Our course lies westward over the great plain by which 
we came. A little way from the town we stop at the 
quarries to examine the great stone of which we have 
heretofore given a description ; and still, a little farther 



322 



The Old World— Palestine. 



on, we again stop to examine what, in the distance, seems 
a small ruined temple, but which, upon closer inspection, 
proves only a circular structure, made by some Moslem 
genius, by standing eight granite columns ( stolen from 
the temple near by) on their ends ( some of them upside 
down) and making thereon a sort of architrave or dome. 
As we have heretofore had occasion to remark, nothing 
more strikingly illustrates the difference between the an- 
cient and modern occupants of this country than the utter 
lack in the latter of anything like architectural taste or 
genius, and the instance now before us is but one of hun- 
dreds scattered throughout Syria. 

The road over the plain of Baalbec is well marked, 
broad, and generally smooth, and we let our horses skim 
along at a bounding pace. Lu's little white horse gener- 
ally leads the way, while Lily's, Mohammed's, and my 
own keep within calling distance. 

At one P. M. we reach an old mill on a small stream, 
and here we stop to lunch, on a green sward, around 
which the waters are flowing. Mohammed's horse, while 
rolling, breaks the girth, and the saddle rolls off in the 
stream. The saddle is recovered but thoroughly soaked, 
and, for the balance of the day, the poor fellow has to 
ride on a wet seat. We laugh at him for the mishap, 
though, had it been our own, we should have hardly 
thought it a laughing matter. 

Later in the afternoon we reach the small village of 
Kerak, where we stop a while to examine the reputed 
tomb of Noah. It is in an old mosque near the roadside, 
and the venerable Moslem who has charge of the build- 
ing seems thoroughly impressed with its identity. The 
tomb extends from one end of the building to the other, 
probably a hundred feet. It is about three feet wide and 
three high, running up to a sharp edge. On it lie a num- 



Among 1 the Maronites. 323 



ber of shawls, some coarse and some quite fine, which 
have been donated to the tomb by persons who have 
thought themselves miraculously cured of disease by 
visiting it. Near one end we notice a quantity of gum, 
such as is used in Catholic churches for the " burning of 
incense," and which the old Moslem tells us is used here 
occasionally, in like manner, by persons who visit the 
tomb for devotional purposes. The attendant makes no 
objection to our taking some of this gum as a memento 
of the place, on condition of our leaving enough buck- 
sheesh to cover its cost. 

Beyond this, a little way, we reach the village of 
Maalakha, and are surprised at its general neatness and 
the number of new houses. On inquiry we learn that it 
is mostly occupied by Christians, and that the large num- 
ber of new buildings observable is accounted for from the 
fact that, not long since, the Moslems of the surrounding 
villages burned the houses of the Christians of Maalakha, 
and the government, to make good the loss, had these 
new houses erected for those who had suffered from the 
fire. Had the Moslem dogs been thrown in the buildings 
which they set on fire it would only have been a just ret- 
tribution for their consummate meanness and bigotry. 
Oh that we had the power to wipe this people from oft' 
the land which they so much disgrace and pollute by their 
presence ! The more we have seen and had to do with 
Moslems, the higher is our appreciation of the Crusaders. 

We are now in the neighborhood of the Maronites, one 
of the most numerous and most singular body of semi- 
Christians in Syria ; and as they have heretofore excited, 
and still excite, a large share of attention from tourists in 
this country, and from Christians generally throughout 
the world, a short account of their history and peculiari- 
ties may not prove uninteresting to our readers. 



324 The Old World— Palestine. 



The Maronites derive their name from Marroun, a holy 
hermit, who flourished in the odor of sanctity in the fifth 
century. But his followers were condemned by the gene- 
ral council of Constantinople (A.D. 681) as holding the 
monothelite heresy ; and, being driven from the greater 
part of the cities of Syria, they took refuge on the moun- 
tains of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon. For several suc- 
cessive centuries from that period Lebanon continued to 
be an asylum from religious persecution for eveiy caste. 
By no other means can we account for the fact of Pagan 
and Christian amalgamating for so long a series of ages, 
and submitting to be governed by a single head. 

And still is Lebanon one vast city of refuge. The 
stranger, pursued by implacable enemies, the Christians 
of the plain, unable to endure the cruel oppression and 
extortions of the Turkish governors, fly to the mountain, 
and neither private malice nor the tyranny of the rulers 
will venture to seek them there. In 1821, when the dis- 
asters of Navarino had excited the intensest hatred in the 
bosoms of the Turks against everything European, the 
consuls and the Franks resident in Syria, alarmed for the 
safety of their lives, sought an asylum among the inhabit- 
ants of Lebanon ; and during a space of fifteen or eigh- 
teen months passed by them in that region, never did the 
least shadow of danger trouble their tranquillity : the 
hospitable Lebanon keeps trusty guard over those who 
confide in its protection. By what a noble instinct, by 
what an admirable law not written in human books, do 
the mountaineers thus devote themselves to the defence 
of the fugitive and the oppressed ! " Thanks be to God 
for the mountains !" 

The Maronites adhered to the Latin Church in the year 
1 182, but still remained under the authority of their own 
patriarchs. In the course of the events that followed the 



Among the Maronites. 325 

Crusades their attachment to the Church of Rome became 
much diminished ; but they were won back to it by able 
negotiations in the year 1403 ; and in 1445 the Maronites 
solemnly renewed their recognition of Roman supremacy 
under the pontificate of Eugenius IV. Thenceforth they 
have always piqued themselves on their strict fidelity to 
the Holy See, which in its turn has favored them with 
many immunities. Thus celibacy is not strictly imposed 
on the Maronite priests, who may be ordained though 
married, but they must not take a second wife if the first 
die. Only the higher clergy and the monks, and those 
who are unmarried when they take orders, are compelled 
to remain single. 

They celebrate mass in Syriac, of which the greatest 
part of them comprehend not a word. The gospel alone 
is read aloud in Arabic, that it may be understood by the 
people. The communion is administered in both lan- 
guages. The host has a small round loaf, unleavened, of 
the thickness of a finger, and about the size of a crown- 
piece. On the top is the impression of a seal, which is 
eaten by the priest, who cuts the remainder into small 
pieces, and putting it into the wine in the cup, administers 
to each person with a spoon. In this manner he serves 
the whole congregation. 

The Maronites constitute at this day a community 
governed by the most purely theocratical system that has 
withstood the changes of time — a theocracy which, having 
constantly had the fear of Moslem tyranny impending 
over it, has of necessity a character of moderation and 
paternal tenderness toward the governed, so that it has 
fostered among them some germs of civil liberty, which 
need only a more favorable season to unfold themselves. 
The patriarch (batrak) is elected by the bishops of the 
nation, subject to the approval of the pope or of his 



326 The Old World — Palestine. 



legate. The patriarch's authority is unlimited ; all the 
Christians of the mountain pay him extraordinary respect 
and deference. He has but to speak to be obeyed im- 
plicitly, and that even in matters not pertaining to his 
spiritual functions. The influence of the numerous 
bishops is also very great, and the Turkish authorities 
are careful to avoid offending them, knowing that a word 
from their lips would be enough to arouse the whole 
population. 

The bishops are possessed of stated revenues, that 
enable them to live in comparative affluence ; but this is 
not the case with the inferior clergy, who have no fixed 
sources of income, but subsist on the produce of their 
masses, the bounty of their congregations, and the labors 
of their hands. Some of them exercise trades ; others 
cultivate small plots of land ; and all are industriously 
employed for the maintenance of their families and the 
edification of their flocks. This poverty is recompensed 
by the great respect paid them ; their vanity is inces- 
santly flattered ; whoever approaches them, whether rich 
or poor, great or small, is anxious to kiss their hands, 
which they fail not to present ; nor are they pleased that 
Europeans withhold from them this mark of reverence. 

It is perhaps to the potent influence of the clergy that 
we must attribute the mild and simple manners generally 
prevailing among the Maronites, for violent crimes are 
extremely rare among them. Retribution immediately 
follows every offence, however slight, and the clergy are 
rigorous in preventing every appearance of disorder or 
scandal among the members of their flocks. Before a 
young man can marry, he must obtain the consent of his 
pastor and of his bishop. If they disapprove of the mar- 
riage, they prohibit it, and the Maronite has no remedy. 
If an unmarried girl become a mother, her seducer is 



Among the Maronites. 



327 



compelled to marry her, whatever be the inequality of 
their conditions ; if he refuses, he is reduced to obedience 
by measures of severity, fasting, imprisonment, and even 
bastinading. This influence of the clergy extends to 
every detail of civil and domestic life. The Maronite 
who should appeal from the decision of the clergy to the 
civil authority of the emirs would not be listened to by 
them, and the act would be regarded by the appellant's 
bishop as a transgression to be visited with condign pun- 
ishment. 

The clergy have at their command a fearful word of 
execration — a word that excites unbounded horror when- 
ever it is uttered ; but its application is rare. This word, 
applied to an individual, would instantly bar every door 
against him ; he would find himself everywhere cut off 
from all social intercourse, for no one would have any 
communication with him, or give or sell anything to an 
accursed one like him. This word, the more terrible, 
inasmuch as the explanation of its import is always left 
to the imagination of the mountaineer, is fra-massoon, 
a corruption of franc-macon (freemason). A Christian 
of Lebanon believes in his heart that a freemason is a 
horrible being, whose soul is doomed to irretrievable 
perdition, and who has daily dealings with Satan, who is 
endowed with a thousand infernal qualities, and possesses 
a thousand atrocious means of working mischief, by cast- 
ing malignant spells, and inflicting diseases on the faithful, 
making them succumb to temptation, and dragging them 
down along with himself to the bottomless pit. 

Among the gorges of the little barren mountain of 

Abaron, a day's journey from Deir el Kammar, there is 

a spot whither the Maronites repair in numerous small 

parties with extreme secresy, to venerate the tomb of 

Moses, the law-giver of the Jews. The discovery of this 
28 



328 The Old World— Palestine. 



sacred tomb is thus recounted : In the year 1655, some 
Maronite herdsmen, who were keeping their flocks on 
the mountain, frequently found the tale of their goats 
defective. The missing animals would return after one 
or two days' absence, but, to the great surprise of their 
keepers, they always brought back with them a delicious 
perfume, which they retained for a long while. Curious 
to ascertain the cause of such a prodigy, the men one 
day followed the goats that were in the habit of straying 
from the flock ; and, after many devious wanderings 
through broken glens and over precipices, they lost sight 
of the goats near a cavern, the entrance to wmich was 
closely screened by thick masses of foliage. The men 
boldly entered the cavern after the goats, and immediately 
recognized the admirable odor that had previously so 
much perplexed them. They found, in the middle of the 
cave, a tomb constructed of unhewn stone, and covered 
with a marble slab that gave forth a dazzling lustre, and 
bore this inscription, Moosa Cadam Allah ! — Moses the 
servant of God. Quitting the sacred spot, they made 
all haste to Kanobin, to communicate what they h t *d 
seen to the patriarch. The odor with which they were 
still impregnated amply corroborated the truth of their 
report. This discovery produced an immense sensation 
all over the mountain. Latins, Greeks, Armenians, and 
Jews, all longed to become exclusive possessors of the 
hallowed sepulchre of Moses. The heartburnings, in- 
trigues, and broils that ensued were carried to such an 
acrimonious and scandalous pitch that Bekir Pasha, 
governor of Damascus, at last caused the .entrance to the 
tomb to be closed with a wall of solid masonry, and pro- 
hibited all approach to it, under severe penalties, in order 
to take from the rival factions all pretext for disturbing 
public tranquillity. " At present," say the Maronites, 



Among the Maronites. 



329 



" all that can be seen is the entrance to the grotto ; but, 
at a certain season, a balmy atmosphere still issues from 
it, despite the thickness of the wall." 

The group of mountains extending from the Nahr-el- 
Kelb to the Nahr-el-Kebir is commonly designated the 
Kesrouin, though Burckhardt confines this appellation to 
a much more limited district north of the former river, 
extending about fourteen miles in length from north 
to south, and from eight to twelve miles in breadth. 
The principal and almost sole produce being silk, mul- 
berry trees are the chief growth of the soil ; wheat and 
barley are sown, but not in sufficient quantity for the con- 
sumption of the people. The loom is, of course, an in- 
dispensable article of furniture in every house, and the 
manner of plying it is singular enough ; the weaver sits 
in a hole sunk in the earthen floor. A man's wealth is 
estimated by the number of rotolas of silk which he 
makes, and the annual taxes paid to the government are 
calculated and apportioned on the same principle. The 
miri, or land-tax, is taken upon the mule-load of mul- 
berry leaves, eight or ten trees in common years yielding 
one load. The custom, before the late armed interference 
of the allied powers, was for the Turks to exact one or 
two miris annually, by way of tribute, from the grand 
prince of the mountain, who, on his part, levied the same 
upon the inhabitants, besides several others on his own 
account. But despite the complaints long made by the 
Maronites respecting the taxes extorted from them, these 
were not to be compared in amount with those paid by 
the inhabitants of European countries. It is not the 
mere amount of taxation that crushes the energies of a 
nation, but its arbitrary character and the irregularity 
with which it is imposed. If the taxes were legally de- 
termined, and their proportion fixed in the Turkish em- 



33o 



The Old World — Palestine. 



pire, their pressure would scarcely be felt ; but the first 
element of national wealth is wanting where no law se- 
cures the rights of property or defines the extent of the 
claims to which it is liable. In Lebanon the amount to 
be paid by each individual is determined by the several 
village sheikhs, and it may well be imagined that a part 
of the sums raised sticks to the fingers of the collectors. 

But, after all, the condition of this people is essentially 
happy. Its rulers fear it, and dare not establish them- 
selves in its provinces ; its religion is free and respected ; 
its churches and its convents crown the summits of 
its hills ; its bells, that sound as a welcome token 
of liberty and independence, peal their summons to 
prayer night and day ; it is governed by its own hered- 
itary chieftains and by the clergy it loves ; a strict but 
equitable system of police preserves order and security in 
the villages ; property is respected, and transmitted from 
father to son ; commerce is active ; the manners of the 
people perfectly simple and pure. Rarely is there seen 
a population whose appearance bespeaks better health, 
more native nobility, and a higher civilization than that 
of these men of Lebanon. Education, though limited to 
reading, writing, arithmetic, and the catechism, is uni- 
versal among them, and gives them a deserved supe- 
riority over the other tribes of Syria. 

But, though the ability to read and write be thus gen- 
eral among the Maronites, it must not be inferred that 
they are a literary people. Far from it ; the book-learn- 
ing of all classes, both clergy and laity, can hardly be 
rated too low. There are native printing-presses at work 
in some of the monasteries, but the sheets they issue are 
all of an ecclesiastical kind — chiefly portions of the 
Scripture or mass-books in Syriac, which few, even of 
the clergy, understand, though they repeat them by rote. 



Among the Maronites. 331 



The ignorance respecting even the most ordinary subjects 
of thought, which is to be found in some of the more re- 
tired districts, is really curious. A Frenchman was asked 
by a Maronite if they had a moon in his country. A Eu- 
ropean woman having found her way into a village of 
Lebanon, some Maronite females laid violent hands on 
her, that they might satisfy themselves whether or not the 
women of Europe and those of Lebanon belong to the 
same species. Lady Frances Egerton complains that, in 
her journey through the mountains, there was no such 
thing as keeping the women out of her room. " If I 
fastened my door, they called, and knocked, and battered 
at it until I feared that it would yield to their efforts, and 
this at five o'clock in the morning, whilst I was in bed, 
as well as at other times. If the door was left a moment 
unfastened, then they flocked in. If I did not admit them, 
then they peeped through every crevice, and I was obliged 
to bolster up the door with cushions and curtains. It is 
sad that in a country where the men are particularly well 
bred and even polished in their manners, and where they 
are never intrusive or troublesome, the women should be 
in so degraded and inferior a state. In fact, until they are 
educated and permitted to mix with the men, this country 
can never attain a proper degree of civilization." 

The Maronites are gay in their attire. Their turbans, of 
various forms, are of every color except the forbidden 
green, the sacred color of the Moslems. They sometimes 
wear the striped abbas of the Druses, but more generally 
a short red jacket over a parti-colored vest ; embroidery 
of silk or gold cord is not spared by those who have the 
means of procuring such finery, and their crimson and 
yellow sashes sustain a little portable armory of silver- 
mounted khanjars, yataghans, and pistols. 

The usual apparel of the women, both Maronite and 
28* 



332 The Old World — Palestine. 



Druse, consists of an outer pelisse, generally blue, and 
fringed with silk cord : it is open in front, and has 
sleeves to the elbow ; under this is another robe, with 
sleeves open to the wrist : a shawl round the waist, long 
and full trousers, with painted toes or yellow slippers, 
complete the costume. But the most remarkable pecu- 
liarities of their dress are the immense silver ear-rings 
hanging forward on the neck, the large bell-shaped silver 
bobs they wear upon their long plaits of hair, and above 
all the tantoor. 

The tantoor is a tube of gold, silver, or even tin, ac- 
cording to the wealth of the wearer, measuring in size 
from the diameter of an inch and a half at the smaller 
extremity, to three inches at the other, where it terminates 
like the mouth of a trumpet. If the smaller end were 
closed, it might serve for a drinking cup ; and in Ger- 
many glasses of the same form and size are still occa- 
sionally used. In some villages the tantoor is a gilded 
buffalo's horn. But whatever be the material, this orna- 
ment is the peculiar and distinguishing sign of the matron 
condition. Maidens are never allowed to wear the hon- 
ored emblem, with certain rare exceptions in favor of 
those belonging to important families ; and those privileged 
young ladies wear their horns " with a difference," so 
that no native can mistake them for married women. 
The broad end of the tantoor is fixed to a pad on the top 
of the head by two silk cords, which, after being wound 
round the head, hang behind nearly to the ground, ter- 
minating in large tassels, that among the better classes 
are capped with silver. The narrow end commonly 
projects over the forehead at an angle of 45 , like the 
horn of a unicorn, and in this position it might indeed 
serve as a formidable weapon of offence. But the mode 
of wearing it is subject to endless variations ; it points 



Among the Maronites. . 333 



forward, backward, directly upward, to the right or to 
the left : its shape too is no less diversified ; sometimes it 
assumes the form of a truncated cone five or six inches 
long ; sometimes of two such figures joined at their 
narrow ends ; sometimes it is in the shape of a funnel, 
more than a foot long, projecting from the side of the 
head, with the broad end outward, and looking like a 
very large hearing-trumpet. 

There are several convents of nuns in the Kesrouan, 
as, for instance, the convent at Antoura, opposite to that 
of the French Lazarists. One of the superiors and two 
of the sisters formerly were, and, if alive still, are Ethio- 
pian negresses. The Convent of the Bekerke, in this 
vicinity, is memorable as having been founded by the 
notorious Hendye, the romantic history of whose crimes 
is related by Volney. 

She was a young Maronite damsel, whose extraor- 
dinary way of life attracted general attention about the 
year 1775. She fasted, wore haircloth, had the gift of 
tears ; everybody looked on her as a model of piety, and 
many esteemed her a saint. It was but one step more to 
a reputation for working miracles ; and, in fact, a rumor 
of this kind was soon spread. Availing herself of this 
general enthusiasm, Hendye aspired to be the foundress 
of a new order. To build a convent funds were neces- 
sary. The foundress appealed to the piety of her par- 
tisans, and offerings poured in to so large an amount 
that in a few years she was enabled to erect two large 
mansions of hewn stone, the construction of which must 
have cost twenty-five thousand dollars. The Kourkeh 
was soon peopled with monks and nuns. The patriarch 
for the time being was the director-general. Other offices, 
great and small, were conferred on divers priests and 
candidates, who were established in one of the houses. 



334 



The Old Woj'ld — Palestine. 



For a long while everything went on as well as possi- 
ble. It is true that many nuns died ; but the blame was 
laid upon the air, and it was difficult to imagine the real 
cause. Hendye reigned over her little kingdom for 
nearly twenty years, when an unforeseen accident threw 
everything intb confusion. A factor traveling from 
Damascus to Beyrout in the summer was overtaken by 
night near this convent ; the gates were shut, the hour 
unseasonable ; and as he did not wish to give trouble, he 
contented himself with a bed of straw, and laid himself 
down in the outer court, waiting the return of day. He 
had only slept a few hours when he was awakened by a 
sudden noise of doors and bolts. From one of the doors 
issued three women with spades and shovels in their 
hands, who were followed by two men bearing a long 
white bundle that appeared very heavy. They proceeded 
toward an adjoining piece of ground full of stones and 
rubbish, where the men deposited their load, dug a hole, 
into which they put it, and covering it with earth, trod it 
down with their feet, after which they all returned to the 
house. The sight of men with nuns, and this bundle 
thus mysteriously buried by night, amazed the traveler, 
and in anxiety and fear he hastily departed to Beyrout 
before daybreak. He was acquainted with a merchant 
in that town, who some months before had placed two 
of his daughters in the Kourkeh, with a portion equaling 
two thousand dollars. He went in search of him, still 
perplexed with what he had seen, but burning with im- 
patience to recount his adventure. They seat themselves 
cross-legged, the long pipes are lighted, and coffee brought 
in. The merchant makes inquiries respecting his journey, 
and is told that the traveler passed the night near the 
Kourkeh. Further particulars are asked ; and at length 
the visitor, no 'longer able to contain himself, whispers his 



Among the Maronites. 



335 



host what he had seen. The merchant listened with sur- 
prise ; one of his daughters he knew was ill, and he could 
not but remark that a great many nuns died. Tormented 
with these thoughts, and the dismal suspicions they occa- 
sioned, he mounts his horse, and accompanied by his 
friend repairs to the convent, where he asks to see his 
daughters. He is told they are sick. He insists they 
shall be brought to him,; this is angrily refused ; and the 
more he persists the more peremptory is the refusal, till 
at last his suspicions are converted into certainty. Leav- 
ing the convent in an agony of despair, he went to Deir 
el Kammar and laid all the circumstances before Saad, 
Kiaya, or minister of Prince Yousef, chief of the moun- 
tain, who ordered a body of horse to accompany him, 
and, if refused admission, to break into the convent by 
force. The cadi also took part with the merchant : the 
ground where the bundle had been buried was opened, 
and a dead body found, which the unhappy father dis- 
covered to be that of his youngest daughter ; the other 
was found confined in the convent and almost dead. She 
revealed a scene of such abominable wickedness as almost 
petrified the hearers, and to which she, like her sister, 
was about to fall a victim. The pretended saint being 
seized, acted her part with great firmness ; and a prosecu- 
tion was begun against the priests and the patriarch. 
The latter was suspended and deposed. The affair was 
brought to Rome in 1776; the Propaganda instituted an 
inquiry, and discovered scenes of the most infamous 
profligacy and the most horrible cruelty. It was proved 
that Hendye destroyed her nuns, sometimes to get their 
property into her hands, at other times because they were 
not submissive to her will ; that this infamous woman 
not only communicated, but even consecrated the host 
and said mass ; that she had holes under her bed by 



336 The Old World — Palestine. 



which perfumes were introduced at the moment she pre- 
tended to be in ecstasy and under the influence of the 
Holy Ghost ; that she had a faction that cried her up, 
and gave out that she was the mother of God returned to 
earth, and a thousand other extravagances. Notwith- 
standing all this, she retained a party powerful enough to 
prevent the severe punishment she merited. She was 
shut up in several convents, from which she frequently 
managed to escape. In 1783 she was at the visitation 
of Antoura, and the emir of the Druses interested him- 
self in her behalf. She died in the year 1802, at the age 
of seventy — a hypocrite to the very last ; and such was 
the rigor of her penances and mortification that the 
Maronites to this day revere her as a saint. 

There is a large and well-built Latin convent in this 
village of Maalakha, the doors of which are invitingly open 
to tourists, but we have no time to stop even to wish them 
God-speed in their work among this heathenish people. We 
notice hereabouts that the mulberry tree is cultivated with 
great care and in great quantity, from which we infer that 
the pious monks of the convent are endeavoring to encou- 
rage the manufacture of silk among the people. 

Here at Maalakha we reach a branch of what is known 
as the "French road," which runs from Damascus to Bey- 
rout. This branch is about six miles in length, and is as 
well macadamized as any road in Europe. It looks more 
like civilization than anything we have before seen in Syria. 

Six miles farther on we strike upon the great road itself, 
and notice a number of substantial French buildings, erected 
by the company for the accommodation of its employes. 
This road was built a few years since by a company of 
French capitalists, and, as before stated, runs between 
Beyrout and Damascus, a distance of probably eighty 
miles or more. It is constructed with great care, and its 



Among the Maronites. 337 



engineering shows skill and judgment. Its zig-zag course 
up and down the mountains which it crosses makes the 
grade at all times easy, while its surface is smooth and 
hard as pounded stone can make it. Over this road the 
company have exclusive right to run diligences and freight 
wagons. Of the latter we notice great numbers on the 
road, going to and coming from Damascus, each of which 
is loaded to its utmost capacity with freight. The dili- 
gences make the trip from city to city in about one day, 
and it is by far the most comfortable way of reaching Da- 
mascus from the sea-coast. 

Next to a railroad, nothing could be more opportune for 
the people of Northern Syria than this splendid turnpike, 
and if its effect upon them should be to open their eyes to 
the advantages of enterprise and improvement, the large 
expenditure will prove advantageous, even though the 
company itself should not reap very large dividends for 
some years to come. 

Shortly after coming upon this road we met the Turkish 
governor of Maalakha and his suite returning from an after- 
noon ride. The governor is a fine-looking man, about 
thirty years of age, splendidly dressed, and still more splen- 
didly mounted. His son rides near him, on a beautiful 
Arabian horse, with an attendant on either side. Before 
his excellency one of the guards carries a bunch of black 
ostrich feathers, on a long staff, which, we presume, is the 
insignia of his rank and position. About twenty horse- 
men accompany him as a guard, each with a Turkish 
scimetar at his side and a brace of pistols in his belt. 
The cavalcade is quite imposing, and the pleasant smile 
and bow which our little party receives from the governor 
on passing impresses us favorably with his good-breeding. 
_ Whether he would be as polite to those over whom he has 
control is another question ; we should rather guess not. 



338 The Old World— Palestine. 



About sundown we leave the valley and commence the 

„ ascent of the eastern slope of Lebanon, and shortly after 
this we find our tents pitched on a level plateau, looking 
down into the valley. We retire early and sleep soundly, 
for we have had a hard day's ride, and greatly need the 
wooings of" Nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep." 

Next morning early, we are again in our saddles, e7i 
route for Beyrout. The road is excellent ; we feel jubi- 
lant at the thought of being near our journey's end in 
Syria, and we let our horses gallop along at a good rate 
of speed. Once, however, we come very near being un- 
horsed by the force of the winds which sweep over these 
mountain ranges, and until we can round a point where 
the winds have less power, we are obliged to move along 
very carefully. 

The views to be had from various points of this French 
road — running, as it does, for a considerable distance along 
the crest of the mountain, and then gradually sloping down 
toward the Mediterranean — are exceeedingly fine, and 
once daguerreotyped upon the mind, they can never be 
forgotten. 

A long way before reaching Beyrout we have a view of 
the city and of all the valley stretching between the west- 
ern slopes of Lebanon and the deep blue sea. Beneath us 
lies the town with its domes, its minarets, its embattled 
walls, and its old fortresses overgrown with a forest of 
creeping plants, blossoms and wild fig trees ; then the 
broad bay, with the anchored barks heaving dreamily on 
its swelling bosom ; and beyond it the sombre masses of 
the mountain chain stretching away toward Tripoli. 
Eastward, the mighty wall of Lebanon stands before us in 
indescribable majesty. Looking up at its gleaming white 
ridges from this position, we have no difficulty in account- 
ing for the name of Lebanon, that is, the w Milky Moun- 



Among the Maronites, 339 

tain." The terrace-plots of cultivation that climb its flanks 
are here concealed from view, so that the whole mountain 
side seems composed only of immense masses of naked 
whitish rock, severed by deep wild ravines, running down 
precipitously to the plain. No one would suspect among 
these rocks the existence of a multitude of delicious glens 
and thriving villages, inhabited by a numerous population 
of mountaineers, hardy, industrious, and brave. 

Between us and the foot of the mountain extends a 
broad region of undulating greenwood, full of beauty. In 
the foreground is a richly cultivated plain, overgrown with 
trees that completely hide the soil, and sprinkled with 
white houses and roofs, like chalky islands in a sea of ver- 
dure ; the view is then narrowed in by a graceful hill, 
crowned with a Greek convent, the blue domes of which 
are overtopped by the umbrella-like heads of a few spread- 
ing pine trees. The sides of the hill descend to the sea 
by a series of terraces, propped up with stone walls, and 
thickly planted with olives and mulberries. Beyond the 
hill there is a second plain, where the river winds its length- 
ened way through woods of evergreen oak ; this plain ex- 
tends the whole way to the gilded flanks of the mountains. 
The mountains do not tower up at once from their base ; 
they begin with hills, like huge blocks of stone, some 
rounded, others almost square, each partially covered with 
vegetation on its summit, and sustaining a village' or a 
monastery glittering in the sun. Their sides, of cream- 
colored stone, rent and shattered by earthquakes, gleam 
and sparkle in the checkered light. Broader masses suc- 
ceed these lower eminences, topped with platforms of one 
or two leagues in width, furrowed with the deep beds of 
torrents and dark precipitous glens. Beyond these plat- 
forms the mountains begin to rise almost perpendicularly, 
but still dotted here and there with black patches of cedars 
29 



340 The Old World — Palestine, 

m 

and pines, and now and then exhibiting a convent almost 
inaccessible, and looking as if suspended on the very verge 
of the precipice. 

Lastly, behind this second chain the true Lebanon rears 
its lofty head, too remote to enable the eye to judge of the 
forms of its sides or the character of its surface. Its 
masses melt indefinitely into the transparent air of which 
they seem to make a part. The sun appears to rest eter- 
nally on the gilded angles of its crests, the varied tints of 
its rays rendering them undistinguishable now from the 
snow that remains on their highest points till the middle 
of summer, and now from the purple clouds of the morn- 
ing that float like enchanted islands in the blue expanse of 
heaven. From noon till two or three o'clock the entire 
summit of the mountain is involved in a blaze of radiance. 

From this point we can see that the whole southern 
and western portion of the promontory of Beyrout is 
composed of exceedingly fine sand, thrown up into hills by 
the winds. On this spot, situated a short distance south- 
east of the town, there exists a grove of pine trees, planted 
by the celebrated emir of the Druses, Fakr-ed-Deen, 
(or, as he is commonly called, Faccardine), for the pur- 
pose, it is said, of arresting the progress of the shifting 
sands, which threatened destruction to the town and its 
rich environs. Thus far the emir's object has been ful- 
filled, and another good effect has ensued, which he could 
not have foreseen, for the town, which was previously 
unhealthy, has ceased to be so since the trees were 
planted, but the grove is not sufficiently extensive, and 
the danger threatened by the sands is but partially over- 
come. The Due de Raguse, who has looked upon the 
town with an eye practiced in engineering speculations, 
asserts that the sands are advancing toward it by a con- 
stant and regular progression ; they gain every year from 



Among the Maronites. 



34 1 



four-and-twenty to thirty yards, and yet no one thinks of 
doing anything to stay them. Houses, and even trees, 
become completely buried in a few months, gradually 
disappearing under the continual accumulation of the al- 
most impalpable grains. The same fate awaits the town, 
and the period when it will be consummated may even 
be calculated with tolerable precision. This is a melan- 
choly spectacle even for a stranger ; yet the inhabitants of 
Beyrout seem to take no heed of it, and enjoy the present 
moment without concerning themselves about the future. 

This dreary and desolate region is an exact representa- 
tion in miniature of the Great Desert ; it is a strip of the 
Egyptian waste transplanted to the foot of Lebanon, and 
surrounded by magnificent oases. To complete the illu- 
sion, after you have wandered but ten minutes through its 
labyrinths, you may find yourself utterly ignorant of your 
position and bearings. The sandy hillocks conceal the 
horizon on all sides ; no track of man or beast is discern- 
ible on the unstable ground that shifts with every breeze, 
and all around you is as dismal a wilderness as imagina- 
tion can conceive — the aspect of a storm without its 
noise, but with its images of wreck and death. This red 
sand, the Arabs tell you, is not brought hither by the 
winds nor accumulated by the sea, but thrown up by a 
subterranean torrent communicating with the deserts of 
Gaza and El Arish ; they hold it for an established fact 
that there are springs of sand as well as springs of 
water ; and, in confirmation of this opinion, they point 
to the manifest difference in color and other physical 
characters between the sands of this desert and those of 
the sea-shore. 

A growth of two centuries and a quarter has reared up 
Fakr-ed-Deen's grove into a noble forest ; the stems of 
the trees shoot up without a branch to a height of from 



342 The Old World— Palestine. 



sixty to eighty feet, and their motionless broad arms lock- 
ing together form an immense verdant canopy over a soil 
as soft as velvet to the tread Except upon the beaten 
paths that wind between the trunks of the trees the ground 
is everywhere covered with a light downy turf, thickly 
set with flowers of the brightest red ; the bulbs of the 
wild hyacinths are so large that they do not break beneath 
the horses' hoofs. 

We also have a fine view, from this- point, of the Mo- 
hammedan burial-ground, just outside of Beyrout, a most 
lovely spot, where the dead sleep well and are not forgot- 
ten by the living. 

Few things strike the traveler in the East more than 
the tender piety of the Moslems toward their dead ; their 
habits, in this respect, present an intense contrast with 
our own, and one that is wholly to our disadvantage. 
We, boasting a faith that robs death of its sting and the 
grave of its victory, habitually violate the consoling spirit 
of our religion ; we picture to ourselves death under the 
most revolting emblems ; we make the last resting-places 
of our kindred ugly and dismal to the eye, and not to be 
thought of but with shuddering repugnance. Why is 
this? Whence this unchristian, this Egyptian parade of 
death's heads and cross-bones — this perverse brooding 
over the horrors of the charnel-house ? If we hated the 
memory of our departed friends, how could we more 
strongly display our aversion than by thrusting away 
from us their living images, and forcing ourselves to think 
of them only as what humanity shrinks from with loath- 
ing? It is otherwise in the East. There " they bury a 
friend, and the next day they plant flowers on his grave ; 
and ever afterward they tend and water them, visiting 
them regularly once a week, and always when they walk 
out for health or pleasure, turning their steps habitually 



Among the Maronites. 343 



to the burial-ground." The tenant of the tomb is, to the 
last, numbered as one of the family ; and in every house- 
hold you may find, among bearded men and aged matrons, 
the happy faith of the little maid in Wordsworth's well- 
known lines. It is not the Moslems who mourn as those 
that have no hope ; happier than too many Westerns, 
they can still believe and pray. 

There is something exceedingly touching in the little 
artless contrivances by which the people of the East en- 
deavor to lighten the gloom of the grave, and to connect 
it with all that is most beautiful and life-like in nature. 
They plant on it myrtles, roses, and other fragrant shrubs, 
and deck it day by day with fresh-culled flowers ; they 
hang over it cages of singing birds, which are fed morn- 
ing and evening with religious care ; they make recepta- 
cles for water in the tombstone, that the fowls of the air 
may drink thence, and thus something living acknowledge 
the charity of him who sleeps below ; and they take care 
to leave a square opening in the side of the masonry, that 
the narrow house may not be utterly shut up from the 
light and the breath of heaven. The women, who are 
the most regular frequenters of the burial-ground, often 
carry their food with them ; the tombstone is their table ; 
they leave a place for the dead to sit with them, putting 
the best morsels before it ; and they talk with him as if 
he was living by their side. 

Beyrout seen thus from a distance, with quaint houses 
and green trees dotting the landscape, and the long line 
of macadamized road twisting and turning down the 
mountain side, and then running in a straight line through 
the valley toward the city, is exceedingly picturesque and 
beautiful. 

And then the sea, deeply, darkly, beautifully blue — 

how it seems to woo us to its embrace — and how the very 
29* 



344 The Old World — Palestine. 



winds which come from off it seem to whisper of home 
and friends ! For weeks we have been without letters, 
without newspapers, without a word of any kind from 
our own native land, and we feel that it will be like be- 
gining life anew to get once more among a civilized 
people. 

So soon as we have passed the last descent, and stopped 
for a few moments to lunch, in a fig tree orchard by the 
road side, we hasten onward and at about two P. M. 
reach the city of Beyrout. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

BEYROUT. 

BEYROUT is the point at which nearly all travelers 
close their pilgrimage through Palestine ; and yet, 
for many reasons, it is the very point from which it should 
be commenced. 

In commencing at Jaffa and coming northward, you 
see the worst parts of Palestine first, and the mind is 
shocked at what seems an irreconcilable difference be- 
tween the biblical description of this land and its actual 
condition. Instead of a "fair" land — a land of "water- 
courses and springs bursting out from the rocks," — a land 
" of olives, and pomegranates, and fig trees," — a land 
" flowing with milk and honey," you only see mountains 
of rock and valleys of barrenness, dry beds of brooks 
and wells without water. The very rocks of the paths 
over which you travel seem so old, and gray, and worm- 
eaten — without moss, or tree, or shrub to relieve their 
hideousness — that you instinctively shrink from them as 
something accursed of both God and man ! 

And then in approaching Jerusalem from the Jaffa 
road every previous conception of its beauty — if not of 
its holiness — vanishes from the mind. Tired, and weary, 
and heartsick at what you have already seen, you reach 

345 



346 The Old World — Palestine. 

a barren summit of rock, to see in the distance only the 
old walls of the city, rough, jagged, and uninviting, with 
here and there a convent, a hospital, and a few straggling 
houses outside of the city walls. The " holy city" — the 
" city of the Great King" — the city which you have 
thought of and dreamt of as one whose 

" Gates are set with precious pearls, 
And streets all paved with gold," 

is nowhere to be seen, and the disappointment which 
comes over the soul will cleave to it for days and weeks, 
if not throughout all the remainder of the tour through 
Palestine. 

In reversing the route — that is, in starting from Bey- 
rout and closing the trip with Jaffa — all this would be 
changed. After visiting Baalbec and Damascus your 
course would lay southward, over plains, some of which 
are beautiful to look upon — over mountains, the rugged- 
ness of which is relieved in part by the surrounding 
plains and a few trees — by flowing brooks and outgushing 
fountains. And though the country through which you 
would thus pass would probably not be equal in all re- 
spects to the conceptions which you have formed, yet in 
a measure it will be found to correspond with the biblical 
record of what Palestine undoubtedly was in the day of 
its greatest glory. 

And then, too, in approaching Jerusalem by the Da- 
mascus road, you have, from the summit of Mount 
Scopus a complete panorama of the city, with the Mount 
of Olives and the Valley of Jehoshaphat to add to its 
picturesque beauty. Even from this point you may feel 
some disappointment in your first view of the Holy City, 
but nothing in comparison with that which every traveler 
must feel in approaching it by the Jaffa road. 



Bey rout. 



347 



There is another advantage in starting from Beyrout. 
The first great object of every Christian tourist in visiting 
Palestine is to trace the footsteps of Jesus, and in doing 
this the route from Beyrout southward is far preferable. 
First you visit Nazareth, where all his youthful years 
were spent — then Cana, where he performed his first 
miracle — then Nain, where he gave back to life the only 
son of a widow — then the Sea of Galilee, where more 
than three years of his life and ministry were spent — then 
Jerusalem, where he lived, and suffered, and died, and 
rose again ! From Jerusalem you visit Bethany, and 
Jericho, and the Jordan, and Bethlehem, and, after re- 
turning, spend such further time in the Holy City as in- 
clination dictates. 

Travelers usually spend but four or five days in Jerusa- 
lem, and then, with the prospect of a long trip before 
them, they hasten on to complete their journey, and, 
when completed, spend their surplus of time in Beyrout ; 
whereas, if they went from this city southward, and found 
on reaching Jerusalem that they could conveniently spend 
two or three weeks more in Palestine, no better use could 
be made of this time than by spending it in examining 
the objects of interest in the Holy City. 

The principal objection urged against this change of 
route is, that the port of Jaffa is not as accessible to 
steamers as Beyrout, and that one might have to wait 
there some time for a steamer, which would be more 
irksome than to wait at Beyrout. 

While there is some truth and some force in this objec- 
tion, yet the advantages of this route are so great that the 
traveler can well afford to take the risk of waiting a few 
days for a steamer ; and now that there is a telegraph line 
between Jaffa and Jerusalem, one could easily learn 
before leaving the latter city what the probabilities of a 



348 The Old World — Palestine. 



steamer's arrival were, and if unfavorable, he could re- 
main in Jerusalem until the steamer came along. 

From Kelly's "best and most recent authorities on 
Syria and the Holy Land," we may quote the impressions 
and experience of another tourist, whose good fortune it 
was to approach Palestine by the way of Beyrout. He 
says : u The traveler whose good fortune it has been to 
make his first approach to Syria by sea, and to land at 
Beyrout, must always esteem it a happy coincidence that 
the most frequented port on all the coast is likewise pre- 
cisely the point where a man of taste and quick feeling 
would choose to receive his first impressions of the coun- 
try. Long before the vessel nears the shore, the sunlit 
peaks and wavy ridges of Lebanon are seen marking the 
blue sky, while its sides are hid from sight by the haze 
upon the waters ; by and by the craggy masses of the 
mountain come forth like airy promontories ; the eye 
gradually distinguishes the deep and dark valleys that 
cleave its flanks ; the rocky crests assume a bolder out- 
line ; and you half discern villages scattered on the moun- 
tain-sides, and monasteries like feudal fortresses crowning 
their summits. Each object caught sight of is hailed 
with delight ; all hands are on deck ; every eye is strained, 
and each gazer has continually some new discovery to 
impart to his companions. It is always an exciting thing 
to have a mountain land in view as the termination of a 
sea voyage ; but here the charm is felt with tenfold 
strength, for the land before you is endeared by a host of 
associations linked with your earliest and most hallowed 
recollections. 

" Meanwhile, the vessel holds on its course ; the land 
grows beneath the eye ; the white walls of the country- 
houses, spread along the plain at the foot of the moun- 
tain, peep out with a look of welcome from between 



Bey rout. 



349 



their clustering trees, and the air is loaded with the per- 
fumed breath of orange and lemon blossoms. At last 
the anchor is dropped, and you are riding in the bay of 
Bevrout in front of a long promontory rising gradually 
from the water, above which are seen the minarets and 
towers of the town, and beyond them the summits of the 
Jebel Sunnin. and the Jebel Kneese, and the long lines 
of the Jebel el Drus. 

" If you have the good fortune to escape being con- 
demned to quarantine (supposing that any is still en- 
forced), a boat conveys you a distance of about a mile to 
the marina, or quav. thronged with Arabs in all the gay 
diversitv of their picturesque costumes and bristling 
weapons. The scene exhibits all the lively bustle of a 
European sea-port. Boats are continuallv plving between 
the shore and the trading vessels from Europe anchored 
in the roads ; porters are carrying bales of merchandise 
to and fro ; you hear the shrill cries of the Arabs wrang- 
ling on the quay, and the uncouth and dismal sounds 
uttered by the camels as they are made to kneel down to 
be loaded. Before you can step out of your boat on the 
wet sands, you are caught up bv some bare-legged Arabs, 
who cany you in their arms to the entrance of a narrow, 
gloomy street, built on the side of a rapid slope. Every- 
thing about you gives you indisputable assurance that 
vou are treading on Eastern ground. 

"Your officious friends now beset you with a clamorous 
demand for biicksJieesh. backsheesh', perhaps at the same 
time significantly rubbing together the tips of their thumbs 
and fore-fingers. You gather from this pantomime that 
backsheesh is Arabic for those familiar sounds of Frangis- 
tan. • summat to drink.' 1 pourboire,' • trinkgeld :' and 
having thus learned the first word of a new vocabulary, 



350 The Old World — Palestine. 



you need not fear that you will be allowed to let it slip 

very soon from your memory." 

We have written at some length on this change of route, 
for it was one that deeply impressed us during our whole 
tour through Palestine ; and if, from what we have written, 
other travelers are saved the mistake which we have made, 
we shall be amply repaid for the pains we have taken to 
put them upon a better track. 

Before entering upon a description of Beyrout and its 
surroundings, a few thoughts with reference to Syria as a 
whole may not be out of place. 

There is not, perhaps, in the world, a country so re- 
markable as Syria for the lustre of its early glories, the 
vicissitudes of its fortunes, and the blood that has drenched 
its soil. Its admirable fertility, the variety and beauty of 
its climate, and its advantageous position in the very heart 
of the ancient world, rendered it the chosen abode of early 
commerce and civilization ; but these very advantages ex- 
cited the ambition of conquerors, and many a time brought 
down on Syria the desolating ravages of war. 

The traveler treads at every step on the remains of per- 
ished cities, and of monuments of art and industry that 
testify the vast population, the wealth, energy, and gran- 
deur of the land in days gone by. To Syria we owe the 
origin of our written characters ; here commerce and navi- 
gation began their humanizing career, and here a multitude 
of useful arts and discoveries had birth, or were carried to 
the highest degree of perfection ; and — infinitely more mo- 
mentous thought to the Christian — here was prepared, 
developed and consummated that stupendous series of 
events on which man rests his hopes for eternity. 

Formerly one of the earliest abodes of almost all re- 
ligions, Syria still teems with the mute memorials or 
their living representatives. On the eastern side of the 



Bey rout. 



35i 



hills of Jordan, and over the plains of Manasseh and Gad, 
are found monuments apparently of Buddhist origin. 
They resemble those of the Druid age in England, and 
carry us back in imagination to the times when the ad- 
venturous ships of Tyre and Sidon transplanted into that 
remote island the elements of civilization and a hierarchi- 
cal polity. 

" The languages of antiquity," says Mr. Farren (Letter 
to Lord Lindsay), "are the living tongues of Syria, and in 
their compounds is still familiar the name of Britain, de- 
rived from Phoenician origin." Beret anic, he says, would 
imply in Arabic " the land of tin," tantamount to the Cas- 
siterides of Herodotus ; and he is inclined to think that the 
name Nyeac Bperawcxac is derived from it. 

It would be erroneous to suppose that Christianity, Ju- 
daism and Mohammedanism monopolize the land between 
them. The Anzary mountains still shelter in their fast- 
nesses the rites and the descendants of ancient Paganism ; 
there still subsist in Syria the mysterious initiations of the 
Druse, the infamous rites of the Ismeylee, the adoration 
of the devil by the Yezeedee, and the practical pantheism 
of the Koord; whilst in a part of Shechem, or the modern 
Nablous, several families, descended from the revolted 
tribes, p eserve their ancient Pentateuch and still offer 
upon Gerizim the rites and sacrifices of the Samaritan 
worship. 

It would seem, as though by a perpetual law, Syria 
were peculiarly marked out as an arena whereon to de- 
termine mighty issues, such as involve the destinies of 
mankind at large. How often has the lot of empires and 
nations been decided here, from the gray dawn of time 
down to our own days ! Jews, Assyrians, Chaldeans, 
Macedonians, Romans, Saracens, Western Christians, 
Tatars, Turks and Egyptians, have all left their bones to 



352 The Old World — Palestine. 



bleach upon this common battle-ground of the nations. 
It was the resistance offered to Napoleon by the petty for- 
tress of Acre which rolled back on Europe the tide of 
conquest that otherwise had swept over Asia. 

Our stay in Beyrout has lasted for nearly a week, wait- 
ing for a steamer for Constantinople ; and during the time 
we have had ample opportunity to see and learn all about 
the place. 

In many respects it is by far the best city in Syria. Its 
streets are generally good, its houses comfortable, and 
many of them even luxurious ; its inhabitants industrious, 
and quite as enterprising as you could possibly expect in 
a country like this ; its bazaars well supplied with Orien- 
tal and European goods, and the merchants about as honest 
as you could hope to find in a country where the common 
custom is to ask two prices for everything, and get all they 
can, especially from travelers. It is said to contain about 
fifty thousand inhabitants, though we should think this an 
over-estimate. 

Beyrout is a place of great antiquity, having given its 
name to Baal Berith, a Phoenician deity, to whom there 
was a temple here ; Augustus made it a Roman colony, 
and called it, after his daughter, Colonia Felix Julia. It 
still asserts, by the beauty of its scenery, its admirable 
climate, and the fertility of its environs, its ancient claim 
to the epithet Happy; but it presents few architectural 
remains of the greatness it attained to under the em- 
perors, one of whom, Justinian, styled it " the nurse of 
the law," and conferred on it, in conjunction with Rome 
and Constantinople, the exclusive right to have professors 
who should expound the Roman jurisprudence. Some 
faint 'trace of the magnificent baths and theatre erected 
by Agrippa, the grandson of Herod the Great, may still 
be seen on the north of the town ; portions of tesselated 



Bey rout. 



353 



pavements and shafts of columns are found in the gar- 
dens and along the sea-shore ; and a great part of the 
quay, facing the harbor, is constructed of fragments of 
pillars, some of which appear to have been of the largest 
kind, and highly finished. Though these remains are of 
little value in the eyes of the antiquary, they may, as old 
Sandys has it, " instruct the pensive beholder with their 
exemplary frailtie." 

In every Eastern town, the stranger desirous of seeing 
" life in the streets" turns his steps to the bazaars, where 
all the retail trade is carried on, and where all who have 
business and all who have none are continually congre- 
gated. If the visitor looks in Beyrout for bazaars an- 
swering to the description of those of Constantinople, 
Cairo, or Damascus, he will, of course, be disappointed ; 
but if his expectations are more moderate he will derive 
much pleasure from the animated and picturesque scenes 
exhibited in the thronged marts even of this little city. 
People of all ranks and conditions, clad in all the cos- 
tumes of the country, are incessantly coming and going ; 
priests, dervishes, Maronites, Druses, Turks, and Arabs, 
Armenians, and Jews ; women like sheeted ghosts, and 
slaves of both sexes, black, brown, and white, pass in re- 
view before him. He finds an endless fund of amuse- 
ment in watching the occupations, attitudes, and gestures 
of the ever-changing groups that mingle and cross each 
other in every direction ; the most trivial circumstances 
of their every-day habits are full of novelty for him. He 
will not fail, for instance, to be struck with their extraor- 
dinary attachment to the sitting, or rather squatting, pos- 
ture, with their heels tucked under them. With them 
almost every occupation is sedentary ; you may see the 
blacksmith sitting and hammering his iron ; the carpenter 
sitting and hewing his wood or planing his plank, and 



354 



The Old World— Palestine. 



the women sitting and washing their clothes. It is for 
the sake of being able to reach every article of their stock 
without standing up that the merchants carry on their 
business in little shops not more than five or six feet 
square. You are not surprised to see the tailor sitting 
cross-legged ; he does so all the world over ; but the 
Eastern tailor does not even quit his shopboard to measure 
you, but, stretching out his arm, takes your dimensions 
with a plummet and line. 

The great variety of sects and creeds assembled in 
Beyrout is nowhere more strikingly observed than in the 
bazaar. If it rarely happens that all the shops are open, 
on the other hand it would be almost as extraordinary a 
circumstance to find them all closed on any one day. It 
is always holiday with some portion or another of the 
population, and workday for the rest. Three out of the 
seven days of the week are Sabbaths — Friday for the 
Moslems, Saturday for the Jews, and Sunday for the 
Christians. Besides this, the United and Schismatic 
Greeks, the Maronites and the Armenians, keep so many 
saints' days that the merchants and poor artisans who 
earn their bread day by day are consequently defrauded 
of much valuable time. But, indeed, time is a com- 
modity nowhere jealously prized in the East. 

The shopkeepers of the different races may be distin- 
guished as readily by their manner of doing business as 
by their dress. The sedate Turk is a man of few words, 
and seldom utters more than is strictly necessary. He 
sets his goods before you, names their price, and leaves 
you to do as you please about buying. You need not 
think of offering him a lower bidding ; he will not bate a 
para, and the only reply he will make will be to take 
back the article in question and return it to its place. 

The Christian talks more ; he is anxious to recom- 



Bey rout. 



355 



mend his goods, and is not offended by the offer of a reason- 
able price, though it be lower than his first demand. He 
knows that there are people who take pleasure in hig- 
gling and cheapening, and who will never make a pur- 
chase unless they can obtain it at a reduced rate ; he 
therefore makes his arrangements accordingly. 

But if the customer has a genuine taste for the art and 
mystery of shopping, the Arab is, by all means, the man 
for his money. Inshallah ! you shall not make any pur- 
chase of him, unless it be for a very trifling amount in- 
deed, under half an hour's bargaining, or more. When 
you have found the article you want, instead of flippantly 
demanding its price, throwing down the money, and car- 
rying off your purchase, you prepare yourself very delib- 
erately for a long and interesting set-to. You mount 
upon the must ab ah or platform, on which the shopkeeper 
sits, seat yourself at your ease, fill and light your pipe, 
and then comes the war of words. An offer of half the 
price demanded is a* very good move to begin with on 
your part. It is, of course, rejected, but it brings your 
antagonist to somewhat closer quarters ; and so you both 
go on, he lowering his demand and you rising in your 
offers, with sundry episodes and digressions touching last 
year's figs, or any other irrelevant topic of conversation, 
till at last the business is brought to a conclusion, and the 
bargain is struck for a sum generally half-way between 
that first demanded and that first offered. When you 
deal with an Arab, whatever be the subject of the bar- 
gain — shop-goods, horseflesh, or personal services — it 
would be the most impolitic thing in the world to accede 
to the first price demanded, even though you should think 
it not exorbitant. If the man accepts your money, it will 
not be long before he repents of what he has done, and 
then you will find you have brought down an old house 
30* 



356 The Old World— Palestine. 



about your ears. The novelty of the thing disconcerts 
him, and, pondering over the matter, he comes to the 
conclusion that you are a cheat and himself an injured 
innocent. Perhaps he will kick off his shoes and run 
about like a madman, slapping his face and crying out, 
" Oh my sorrow !" But it more usually happens that, on 
your imprudently committing yourself by assenting to 
his first demand, he asks a quarter or a third more ; it 
will then be too late for you to retrieve your error, for* 
when, after much debate, you again close with him, he 
again steps back in the same proportion as before. 

As for the Jew, he is the same in all countries and 
under every garb. You may know him at once by his 
importunate eagerness to obtain custom, his volubility of 
speech and his grotesque gesticulation, which seems the 
more strange by contrast with the gravity and sedateness 
of the Moslems. 

The only shops containing native manufactures some- 
what worthy of note are those of the silk-mercers. After 
having seen the coarse machinery in use, one can hardly 
conceive how such beautiful textures can be produced by 
such clumsy means. At several of the shops where we 
stop to examine silk goods, we find in an adjoining room, 
and sometimes in the same room, an illy-constructed 
hand-loom, somewhat after the fashion of the old looms 
on which our great-grandmothers used to weave rag 
carpets in this country ; and on these we observe native 
Syrians weaving brocades which in fineness of quality 
and brilliancy of color equal, or at least rival, those manu- 
factured at Brussels and Lyons. Formerly these silks 
were more or less employed in the dress of all classes 
of the population, but lately they have been greatly 
supplanted by the cheaper goods of Europe. Still the 
rich gold and silver brocades manufactured in Beyrout 



Beyrout. 



357 



and vicinity are in much demand among the wealthy 
Syrians as the chief material for their gala dresses. Caf- 
tans made of this gorgeous material have a most brilliant 
effect. The silk sashes of Beyrout are also much es- 
teemed, and are exported to different parts of the East. 
We heard of these before leaving Cairo, through Abd-el- 
Atti, Mr. Prime's old dragoman, who, one day broadly 
hinted that on reaching Beyrout we would find sashes 
w r hich would make "elegant presents to friends" — mean- 
ing, of course, that he should not be forgotten in the 
distribution, as he added immediately that "it would be 
entirely safe to trust our own dragoman, who would 
return to Cairo with their delivery." 

The money-lenders and traffickers in specie in Beyrout 
cannot fail to attract the attention of the traveler, and the 
probabilities are that he will be compelled to have* more 
or less dealings with them, in the settling up of affairs 
with his dragoman, muleteers, servants, etc. Here, as 
elsewhere in the East, this kind of traffic is mostly con- 
fined to the Jews ; and it may be supposed that the 
obloquy to which they are subjected adds not a little to 
the exorbitance of their demands. They form a numerous 
body throughout all Syria — at Jaffa, Jerusalem, Damas- 
cus, Beyrout, and in some of the smaller towns of 
Palestine. 

It must not be forgotten that the right of the Jews to 
lend on heavy interest (usury) to strangers is specifically 
recognized by the Mosaic law, and it cannot be wondered 
at that they should avail themselves of it ; but it is a 
main cause of the opprobrium to which they are sub- 
jected. 

But the sin of usury is not monopolized by the Jews to 
the entire exclusion of the Moslems. The latter have 
much degenerated from the primitive fervor of Islamism, 



358 The Old World— Palestine, 



particularly in Syria, and have invented a multitude of 
subterfuges and gross tricks by which they contrive to 
combine a fanatical reverence for the dogmas of the 
Kur-an, with a most impudent disregard for its practical 
morality. The following is the device by which the 
Moslem usurer quiets his conscience and keeps within the 
strict letter of the law. The borrower makes himself 
liable, before the cadi, for the sum lent, together with the 
interest agreed on ; the contract being to this effect, that 
Abu Thaleb acknowledges himself indebted to Hadji 
Ismael for so much money on account of value received, 
to wit, one or more bales of soap, indigo, etc. The 
matter is thus put upon a perfectly legal footing, and 
Hadji Ismael figures in the honorable light of a merchant 
deriving his gain from the fair and open ways of com- 
merce. The contract being settled, the two parties pro- 
ceed to the hadji's house, who hands over the money in 
question to the other, after deducting the interest agreed 
on. He then, with the utmost gravity, takes the first 
small animal he can lay his hands on (he generally has a 
stock of cats by him for this purpose), lays two small 
bundles of the goods mentioned in the bond on the 
animal's back, and delivers it, thus loaded, to his cus- 
tomer, who, with no less gravity, walks away with his 
purchase. The sale is thus completed, and the interest 
comes to be regarded only as a bucksheesh. The loan, 
it is to be observed, is always for a very short term, and 
the creditor takes care to secure himself against all con- 
tingencies by exacting a pledge from his debtor, often of 
double the value of the money lent. 

The diversity of costume in the streets of Beyrout is 
augmented by the varied garb of the different sects of 
Christians, Greeks, United and Schismatic, Armenians 
and Maronites. Then there are the various nuances of 



Bey rout. 



359 



the Moslem faith, which are likewise evinced by the 
dress. 

Yonder walks the grave Turk of the old school (and 
there are still many such in Syria), dressed in his long 
caftan, and his white or green bellying turban ; the latter 
color distinguishes the descendant of the Prophet, who is 
entitled to be styled emir, or the hadji, who has made 
the pilgrimage to Mecca. Though emir is properly equiva- 
lent to lord, or even to prince, the title is now sunk in 
value, and the majority of those who may claim it in its 
primitive sense are to be found among the lowest classes, 
such as porters, water-sellers, etc. 

The genuine Moslem pursues his way sedately, with one 
hand fondling his curling beard and the other resting on 
the dagger or the writing-case in his girdle. The unfor- 
tunate scattered race of Judah has likewise its representa- 
tives here. Always on the alert to increase his store, the 
Jew shuffles through the crowd, dressed in a dirty caftan 
and dark-colored turban, squinting right and left after any* 
chance of petty gain that may present itself ; above all, he 
throws a sheep's eye at the Europeans wandering about 
here, and makes up to them at once with offers of all pos- 
sible services. Delegates from almost all the nations of 
Europe are here in great numbers, and all true to their 
respective national characters. The Frenchman saunters 
about in canary-colored gants de Paris glaces ; and whilst 
all the Austrian sailors take off their hats to every well- 
dressed Frank that looks civilly at them, the wooden-faced 
Englishman sails right ahead, staring up at the houses and 
the sky, and runs every one down that does not get out of 
his way. 

Female promenaders are not so numerous here as in 
Constantinople. All the Moslem women have their faces 
concealed by a strip of black silk or cotton, fitting like a 



360 The Old World— Palestine. 



visor, hanging down to the middle ; beside this, whenever 
they spy a stranger approaching, they throw also over 
their heads a piece of white muslin that hangs over their 
backs, and this manoeuvre is practiced with peculiar alac- 
rity by the oldest and ugliest — a proceeding on their part 
to which there can be no possible objection ; " A man must 
travel eastward," says Lord Egerton, " duly to appreciate 
the hag-like hideousness of female antiquity." The young 
and pretty not unfrequently draw their veils aside and dis- 
close a pair of black, lustrous eyes, for which they are im- 
mediately chided by their more rigorous seniors. The 
Maronite women, who wear a white veil over their horns, 
drop it now and then to conceal their pretty round faces 
from the gaze of strangers. Nevertheless, they ave made 
very tolerable progress in civilization, and they often 
enough favor one with a good-humored smile. The women 
of the Arab Catholics, of whom there are many here, go 
unveiled, and we have seen among them some splendid 
figures and faces of rare beauty. 

Among the institutions of the city are the " coffee-houses" 
— the word coffee, in this instance, signifying anything a 
man may choose to call for in the way of drinks. Through 
the day these places are frequented to considerable extent, 
but at night, when all the larger ones have music, they are 
thronged. In passing them at night, one would sup- 
pose that half the inhabitants of the city were in the coffee- 
houses, and a more hilarious set of men is nowhere to be 
found. 

Another of its institutions is the Turkish bath ; and as 
some of our readers may not exactly understand what 
this means, we will relate our own experience in one of 
them : 

First, the bath-house itself is of Oriental construction, 
consisting of a large circular room, surmounted by a dome 



Bey rout. 



361 



of elaborate workmanship, with side rooms for undressing, 
steaming, scouring, etc., etc. 

After disrobing in one of the side rooms and reappear- 
ing under the central dome, a strong, burly Moslem took 
us in charge and directed the putting on of wooden slip- 
pers, or rather stilts, with which to walk over the marble 
floor into the adjoining steam-room. We essayed to do as 
he directed, but soon found (after nearly breaking our neck 
in the attempt) that though a Turk may walk with such 
shoes very comfortably, we can do no such thing, and con- 
sequently we kick them from our feet in disgust. 

On reaching the first room we found the air hot, and in 
the next room still hotter. Pointing to a marble platform 
in the centre of the room, he directed us to take a seat, and 
here we sat until the sweat exuded from every pore while 
he made preparations for further operations. Next he 
directed us to lay flat on the marble floor, while he, with 
his hand encased in a rough leather mitten, rubbed us tho- 
roughly from head to foot, and seemed to be taking all the 
outer skin from our body. After each hard rub he would 
give his hand a twitch, as if to throw off from the glove 
the skin which he had rubbed off. This was rather a se- 
vere process, but we determined to " grin and bear it" as 
best we could. Then he put on a hair mitten, and having 
a bowl of hot soapsuds near by, commenced to lather us 
from head to foot. Our head, face and whiskers were so 
completely enveloped in soapsuds at one time that we 
could scarcely breathe, and still the old fellow kept piling 
on and rubbing in, as though he intended to smother 
us outright. Then he dashed basinful after basinful of 
hot water over us, and bid us rise from our seat on the 
floor and take another on the central platform. Here we 
expected to get another dashing of cold water, but this he 
omitted — whether from mercy or intention we know not — 



362 The Old World — Palestine. 



and after keeping us a while longer in the hot air, he led 
us by the passage through which we had come back to the 
room where we had left our clothes. Here he wrapped a 
large sheet about our body, and a smaller one about our 
head in the form of a turban, and bid us lay down on the 
sofa and rest or sleep as long as we liked. 

We could have slept easily, sweetly and soundly, had 
time permitted, as every fibre of the body was completely 
relaxed, and we felt as if encased in a pillow of down ; 
but the night was waning, and after resting a while in a 
half-dreamy state, we arose, dressed ourself, and returned 
to the hotel, feeling a hundred per cent, better than when 
we left it. 

If there is any one thing in which the Turks can claim 
precedence over the rest of mankind, it is in their baths and 
frequent bathings. In every considerable town throughout 
the East, public and private bath-houses are to be found, 
and the elegance of their construction far exceeds anything 
of the kind elsewhere. Frequent ablutions are a part of the 
religious creed of the Moslem, and however derelict they 
may be in following other precepts of their Prophet, this, 
certainly, is not neglected. 

A very beautiful spectacle, witnessed here at the Feast 
of the Cross in the month of September, is thus described 
by an American missionary : "As it began to grow dark, 
we observed bonfires lighted in the neighborhood, and 
other tokens of festivity. We went to the terrace on the 
top of the house, which commanded a view of Mount Leba- 
non to an extent of nearly thirty miles. Along the whole 
range we could see the bonfires glaring ; they looked, on 
the dark side of the mountain, like stars on the face of the 
deep blue vault of heaven. They were of all sizes ; some- 
times they would glimmer and expire, while new ones 
would burst forth and soon attain the first magnitude and 



Bey rout. 



3^3 



then die away, or blaze up in fitful flashes as fresh fuel 
was thrown on them. These tokens of rejoicing are ex- 
hibited in commemoration of the finding of the true cross 
by the Empress Helena. It is said that on her way to 
Jerusalem she gave orders that in case she should be suc- 
cessful in finding the cross, the event should be made 
known by bonfires, and thus the intelligence be conveyed 
to Constantinople." 

Among the monkish curiosities of the town there was 
formerly, and, for all we know to the contrary, there may 
still be, in an old church belonging to the Greek commu- 
nity, a picture that particularly arrested Maundrell's atten- 
tion. He describes it as "a very odd figure of a saint with 
a large beard reaching down to his feet." The curate gave 
him to understand that this was St. Nicephorus ; and per- 
ceiving that his beard was the chief object of Maundrell's 
admiration, he gratified him with the following relation 
concerning the saint, viz. : " That he was a person of the 
most eminent virtues in his time ; but his great misfortune 
was that the endowments of his mind were not set off with 
the outward ornament of a beard, upon occasion of which 
defect he fell into a deep melancholy. The devil taking 
advantage of this priest, promised to give him that boon 
which nature had denied, in case he would comply with 
his suggestions. The beardless saint, though he was very 
desirous of the reward proposed, yet would not pur- 
chase it at that rate, but rejected the bribe with indigna- 
tion, declaring resolutely that he had rather for ever de- 
spair of his wish than obtain it on such terms. And at 
the same time taking in hand the downy tuft upon his 
chin, to witness the stability of his resolution (for he had, 
it seems beard enough to swear by), behold ! as a reward 
for his constancy, he found the hair immediately stretch 

with the pluck that he gave it. Whereupon, finding it in 
31 



364 The Old World — Palestine. 



so good a humor, he followed the happy omen ; and, as 
young heirs that have been niggardly bred generally turn 
prodigals when they come to their estate, so he never de- 
sisted from pulling his beard till he had wiredrawn it 
down to his feet." 

Talking of saints, it would be unpardonable to omit 
mentioning the thrice-renowned St. George, who duelled 
and killed the dragon in this neighborhood. About an 
hour's ride to the east of the town is shown the scene of 
the conflict, and a rock marked with the monster's blood, 
or, as others report, with the soap-suds wherein the holy 
champion washed his hands after the exploit. A small 
chapel, erected to commemorate the deed, was afterward 
converted into a mosque, which is now in decay. Curi- 
ously enough, the pig-hating Turks entertain much rever- 
ence for the Cappadocian worthy, who began his career 
as a knavish speculator in bacon. 

Beyrout has of late become so Europeanized that the 
Bedouins of the desert and of the mountainous country 
beyond the Jordan visit it less frequently than formerly, 
though even yet one may occasionally be met with in the 
streets ; and, when so met, always attracts attention 
because of his singular dress and the admirable manner 
with which he sits his horse. Their horses, too, excite 
admiration, as they are usually of the finest Arabian 
stock. 

The Bedouin and his horse should be seen together, 
for then they make a noble and truly poetical figure ; 
when viewed apart the charm vanishes. When the rider's 
foot is on the ground he creeps sluggishly and listlessly 
about, or squats under his tent smoking his short pipe in 
sullen silence ; and the horse stands tamely with his tail 
drooping and his head bent down, looking hungrily after 
the few blades of grass that sprout up between the stones. 



Beyrouth 



365 



But when the Bedouin springs into the saddle, an electric 
energy seems breathed into man and horse ; the rider's 
eye flashes, his muscular form rises up in its pride and 
strength, he utters a peculiar yell, the horse bounds forth 
and makes the air whistle with his speed, whilst his 
streaming tail often lashes his rider's back. In a few 
moments nothing is to be seen in the distance but a cloud 
of dust, with the black feathers of the lance dancing 
above it. 

We have an excellent consul here in the person of 
Julius A. Johnson, Esq., who has filled the post for many 
years with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the 
American residents hereabouts. He was here at the time 
of the massacre of the Christians by the Mohammedans, 
and such was his efficiency that he not only procured the 
punishment of the guilty perpetrators, but obtained large 
damages from the Turkish government for those who had 
suffered injury. One of his duties is the settlement or 
adjudication of all differences arising between American 
travelers and their dragomen and muleteers who arrive at 
this point after a tour through Syria ; and these settlements 
are sometimes of a complex character and require a 
good deal of cool judgment ; for while his own interest, 
as well as that of our government, is that he should 
stand well with the local authorities, still he must not fail 
to so frame his decisions that full and complete justice 
may in all cases be granted to the Americans who submit 
their cases for his adjudication. 

And here we may remark, en ■passant, that one of the 
treaty stipulations between our government and that of 
Turkey is that all differences wherein Americans are 
concerned shall be submitted to our consuls for adjudica- 
tion, and not to the local authorities of the town or city 
wherein the differences may occur. This extends to 



3 66 



The Old World— Palestine. 



criminal as well as to civil cases, and is a source of con- 
stant congratulation to Americans traveling in Egypt and 
Syria. 

If it were otherwise, and a traveler was liable to be • 
dragged before some Turkish official upon any and every 
complaint made by a Moslem, the danger and unplea- 
santness of traveling in these countries would be doubly 
and trebly increased. Indeed, without this provision it 
would hardly be safe to travel in these half-civilized lands 
at all ; for a traveler might, upon the slightest pretense, 
be summoned before a Turkish official, and not knowing 
the laws and usages of the country, nor even its language, 
he might be mulcted in heavy damages, or be made to 
sutler corporeal punishment, without having an oppor- 
tunity to make himself or the case understood by the 
adjudicating officer. 

■ We trust that this wise provision will never be changed, 
and that all future treaties with other governments will 
contain a like clause. 

We also have here an American missionary station, 
one of the oldest, if not the very oldest, in Syria, and we 
are pleased to learn that its usefulness is on the increase. 
The buildings are large and commodious, and, better still, 
they are owned by the society. The schools are in a 
flourishing condition, and the natives who have been 
educated in them and sent forth are doing much 
toward inducing others to attend. In this way, more 
than in any other, can good results be hoped for from 
missionary efforts among such a people. As to making 
a proselyte of an adult Mohammedan by preaching Chris- 
tianity to him, you might as well attempt to stop Niagara 
with a straw. 

But we must now prepare for our departure from the 
Holy Land. The steamer is in the harbor, our passage 



Bey rout. 



367 



engaged, and it only remains to go on board, and then 
farewell to Palestine. 

For forty-one days we have traveled and rested on the 
soil of Syria ; climbed its mountains and crossed its val- 
leys ; bathed in its rivers and lakes ; drank from its 
fountains ; looked upon its ruined temples, palaces, and 
churches ; and, better still, have traced the footsteps of 
Jesus from the cradle to the tomb ; and now we are ready 
to depart for other lands. 

As before stated in this volume, a trip through Syria is 
not one of mere pleasure, nor should it be undertaken as 
such. There are many difficulties and perplexities, aches 
and pains, wearisome days and sleepless nights to be met 
and endured ; and unless one's religious enthusiasm and 
desire for biblical research is sufficient to enable him to 
overcome all these with patience and cheerfulness, he had 
better not attempt a tour through Palestine. If sufficient, 
then the tour becomes one of constant and increasing in- 
terest, and the remembrance of it will ever remain one 
of the greenest and brightest spots in the pilgrimage 
through life. 
31* 



SYRIA. 



CHAPTER XIX. 
COAST- TOWNS OF SYRIA. 

ONCE more on the deep blue sea ! The waves have 
a terror for some, but none for us. We love to see 
the white caps chasing each other, like so many mermaids 
at play ; and when the winds blow furiously and the 
great waves dash against each other like warriors in a 
battle affray, we always look on with interest if not with 
pleasure. How oft have we sung, and how many times 
since have we had occasion to appreciate — 

" A life on the ocean wave, 

A home on the rolling deep, 
Where the scattered waters rave, 
And the winds their revels keep !" 

The day on which we steam out of the harbor of Bey- 
rout is as bright and beautiful as heart could wish ; and, 
as one after another of the mountains of Syria fade from 
our view, we feel that we are leaving old and familiar 
friends, who have watched our wanderings through Pal- 
estine for many a long day ; and yet we have no regret in 
368 



Coast-Towns of Syria. 



369 



leaving them behind. They have been landmarks to us, 
as they have been to others for thousands of years past, 
and will be to others for thousands of years to come, but 
once seen and traversed, no one would care to see and 
traverse them a second time. 

Our good ship " Oleg," with its pleasant and obliging 
officers, and the eight hundred Russian passengers on 
board, returning from their pilgrimage to Jerusalem and 
the Jordan to their homes on the plains and steppes of 
Russia, is now our study from day to day, and one in 
which we take much interest. 

We are told by the captain of our steamer that every 
year thousands of Russians make a pilgrimage to Pales- 
tine — to visit the tomb of our Saviour and bathe in the 
river Jordan — believing themselves to be performing an 
act of extraordinary religious devotion in so doing. 
Many of these come from the interior of Russia, and 
some from places bevond St. Petersburg, who travel hun- 
dreds of miles on foot to reach Odessa, where they take 
passage bv sea. Along the route, through their own 
country, both in going and returning, the door of every 
cottage is open to them as pilgrims in a holy cause. It 
costs them nothing, therefore, to travel through Russia, 
but when they reach Odessa they pay about twenty dollars 
for a deck passage on the steamer to and from Jaffa. 
Each pilgrim, or each family of pilgrims, as, in some 
cases, we notice father, mother, children, and grandchil- 
dren, all of one family, carry for their own use upon the 
vessel provisions and cooking utensils, and about sun- 
down of each day they engage in their work of cooking 
and eating, which is an interesting sight to strangers. 

The Russians are great tea-drinkers. Indeed, this 
habit may almost be classed as one of their national cha- 
racteristics, since high and low, rich and poor, all drink 



370 The Old World — Syria, 



tea of some sort ; and this peculiarity is particularly no- 
ticeable on our steamer, as there is probably not one of the 
whole company who does not drink tea of some quality 
and in some form. Many of the pilgrims have a sort of 
patent arrangement for making tea, which answers the 
purpose admirably. It is somewhat in the style of the 
Old Dominion coffee-pot of our own country. Others 
have only a tin cup, in which they put a little black tea, 
and then take it to the cooking-room of the steamer, 
where they are furnished with boiling water. 

At nine o'clock, each evening, tea is served up in the 
cabin. It is of most excellent quality, and in addition to 
sugar the Russians put in a small slice of lemon. We 
try this ourselves, and find it adds considerably to the 
pleasantness of the drink. 

Near the time of the setting of the sun the more de- 
vout of the pilgrims make long and earnest prayers with 
their faces turned toward Jerusalem. Their manner of 
praying is much the same as that of the Mohammedans, 
except that they frequently cross themselves during the 
time of praying. The intent gaze in the direction where 
they suppose the Holy City to be located, the frequent 
touching of the forehead to the earth or plank, the rapid 
movement of the lips, are the same as we observed in the 
Mohammedans all through Egypt. The only difference 
seems to be that the Mohammedan looks toward Mecca, 
while the Russian directs his eyes toward Jerusalem. 
During prayer the latter also is engaged in frequently 
touching his right and left shoulder, forehead, and breast, 
thus making the sign of the cross. 

After nightfall many of the pilgrims join in singing, 
and the voices of some are superb. Some of the an- 
thems they sing are quite operatic, and their manner of 
rendering them would do credit to the most celebrated 



Coast-Towns of Syria. 



371 



choirs of America. We have been both surprised and 

delighted in listening to them. 

These pilgrims are of all ages and conditions, and of 
both sexes. Some of the men and women are very old — 
too old. one would think, to have undertaken such a long 
and tedious journey ; others are in the prime of life, and 
walk the deck with a firm and majestic step ; a few, we 
should think, were young married couples, who are mak- 
ing the pilgrimage as a marriage tour ; while probably 
fifty of the eight hundred are children, varying in age 
from six months to eighteen years. 

We should judge, too, that there is considerable differ- 
ence in their worldly prosperity- at home. Some are 
much better dressed than others, and the difference of 
their cooking utensils, knives, forks, dishes, etc., indicates 
different degrees of wealth, though not a single one of 
them, as far as we know, has taken any other than a deck 
passage. 

The dress of all of them is of the warmest character — 
woolens and skins. Both men and women wear sheep- 
skin pelisses — that is, sheep-skins dressed with the wool 
on. and made into coats, sacques, and overcoats. The 
caps of many of the men and boys are made of the same 
material. They all wear their hair very long, and many 
of the men have beards which would do honor to a Turk. 
Their dress and shaggy appearance about the head 
would naturally suggest their relationship to the " Rus- 
sian Bear." 

The religious enthusiasm, in kind, if not in degree, 
which induced the Crusaders to undertake the deliverance 
of Palestine from the hands of the infidel is still abroad 
in the world, as is evidenced by the hundreds and thou- 
sands of Russians, and pilgrims of other nationalities of 
Europe, who visit the Holy Land annually to lay their of- 



372 The Old World—Syria. 



ferings, however small, at the foot of the Cross ; to bathe 
with their tears the Stone of Unction, on which the body 
of Jesus was prepared for the sepulchre ; to creep upon 
their hands and knees to the mouth of the tomb in which 
the body lay, and bewail, within it, the cruel suffering of 
their once crucified but now arisen Redeemer ; to walk 
bareheaded, and almost barefooted, over the terribly 
rocky paths from Jerusalem to the Jordan, that they may 
wash in the stream made sacred by the baptism of Jesus ; 
and to suffer, in many ways, hardships quite as great as 
the Crusaders themselves, except in the loss of life and 
limb. 

With such a striking instance of self-sacrifice and de- 
votion of a portion of his people before him, it is not dif- 
ficult to understand why the Emperor of all the Russias 
has occasionally made such strenuous efforts to wipe Tur- 
key from the map of nations, and deliver his own people 
and other Christians inhabiting the East from the op- 
pression of Mohammedan rule ; and, in the providence 
of God, we cannot but believe that these efforts will ere 
long be crowned with success, notwithstanding the jeal- 
ousy, and consequent opposition, of other European 
nations. 

But we must now pass to other topics relative to our 
journey. The good ship speeds on her way northward 
— we are all the while within sight, and occasionally 
touching and departing from points of great historical in- 
terest, and we must say something concerning them. 

It is half-past ten at night when we start from Beyrout, 
and early next morning we reach Tripoli. This city, by 
the Arabs called Tarabolos, is situated on one of the 
most favored spots of all Syria, as the maritime plain 
and the neighboring mountains place every variety of 
climate within reach of the inhabitants. It consisted 



Coast -To zvn s of Syria . 



373 



originally, as its name imports, of three towns, formed 
severally by colonies from Tyre, Sidon, and Aradus, 
which afterward coalesced into one. It is not washed by 
the sea, but lies about a mile and a half from the shore, 
on the side of one of the lowest spurs of Lebanon, which 
is surmounted by an old fortress, built, it is supposed, by 
Raymond de Toulouse, and commanding the city and its 
environs. Though Tripoli has twelve gates, it is but par- 
tially enclosed with walls, but a circular line of houses 
gives it, externally, something of a fortified appearance. 
It retains many marks of the ages of the Crusades ; among 
them several high arcades of Gothic architecture, under 
which the streets run. The houses are white, and gener- 
ally well built, and the whole town has a light and clean 
appearance, and is very much embellished by the gardens 
which are not only attached to the houses within it, but 
cover, likewise, the whole triangular plain lying between 
it and the sea. This space was occupied late in the last 
century by marshes — a prolific hotbed of malignant 
fevers : their partial drainage has greatly improved the 
salubrity of the air. But the soul of the town is the river 
Kadisha, which flows through it, and constitutes its chief 
pretension to the proud surname its Moslem inhabitants 
delight to bestow upon it, namely, Koochook Sham — 
Little Damascus. 

The Wady Kadisha, higher up than Tripoli, is one of the 
most picturesque valleys in the world. It is crossed a short 
distance above the town by an aqueduct built on arches, 
called by the natives Kontaret-el-Brins — a corruption of 
Prince. This name, preserved by ancient tradition, and a 
Latin cross carved in relief on one of the arches, corrobo- 
rates the belief that the aqueduct was constructed by the 
counts of Tripoli in the times of the Crusades. It receives 
in a channel two feet deep, a rapid brook, which issues 



374 



The Old World— Syria, 



from the neighborhood of the village of Sgorta, eight miles 
up the mountain, and discharges itself into a subterraneous 
conduit, bv which it is conveyed to Tripoli ; the inhabit- 
ants prefer its water to that of the Kadisha. The aque- 
duct is one hundred and thirty paces long, and seven feet 
eight inches broad. It may well be imagined that even a 
pedestrian feels some trepidation at crossing it along the 
narrow unguarded ledge not occupied by the water ; yet 
it is related that in 1802, a Maronite, belonging to one of 
the chief families of Lebanon, being hotly pursued by the 
soldiers of the governor of Tripoli, galloped his horse 
across the aqueduct at full speed. 

In the time of the Crusaders there was another aque- 
duct, separated only by a narrow road from the sea. Its 
site is probably indicated by the name Barj-el-Kanatter — 
Tower of the Aqueduct — still given to one of a chain of 
six towers extending along the shore at a distance of ten 
minutes' walk from each other, between the Marina and 
the mouth of the Kadisha. Raymond d' Agile, one of the 
old chroniclers, speaking of a battle fought at Tripoli be- 
tween the Crusaders and Saracens, says coolly, that " it 
was a delectable thing to see the little stream of the aque- 
duct carrying into the city mangled bodies of nobles and 
men of the commoner sort." 

Ten minutes' walk above the town, on the same side of 
the Kadisha as the castle, stands the convent of Dervishes, 
so celebrated for the exquisite beauty of its situation. At 
half an hour's walk below the town, at the extreme angle 
of the triangular plain, is El Myna, the Marina or part of 
Tripoli, itself a small village, inhabited chiefly by Greek 
sailors and shipwrights. 

There are two other places in the environs of Tripoli 
that deserve mention among the lions of the town, viz. : 
Bedoowek and the Treasure Cave. Bedoowek is called 



Coast -Towns of Syria. 



375 



from a sheikh of that name, whose tomb is situated on the 
spot, with a mosque erected above it. Close by the mosque 
is a circular basin of beautiful clear water, in which is pre- 
served a great quantity of fish, which are daily fed by the 
guardians of the tomb and the Tripolitans. There are 
probably two thousand of these fish within the circum- 
ference of less than one hundred paces, some of them 
large enough to weigh five or six pounds. No one dares 
to catch or kill one of them, for they are regarded as sa- 
cred. This is an old superstition in the East. The an- 
cient Syrians, as is well known, had their sacred fish ; and 
there are many places where the Mohammedans of the 
present day revere some fortunate member of the finny 
tribe, who they say were favorites with Abraham, and 
have been, in consequence, endowed with a length of days 
not usually granted to their race ; and it is even supposed 
that under certain circumstances they became the recipi- 
ents for any appointed time of the souls of true believers. 

The Treasure Cave is a grotto about half an hour's 
walk from Tripoli, containing, it is said, certain old 
sequins, which, by some marvelous virtue, attract every- 
thing to them, and which no human power could remove 
from where they lie. The inhabitants put the most 
implicit faith in this prodigy ; and if you express the 
least doubt on the subject, they will tell you a string of 
stories, each succeeding one more wonderful than the 
other, till they fairly talk down your skepticism. The 
djins, no doubt, are at the bottom of the mystery. Every 
reader of the "Arabian Nights" is acquainted with those 
tricky sprites, the djins and djiniyehs (for they are male 
and female). Their existence is fully believed in at this 
day ; how, indeed, should it be questioned, seeing the 
numbers of living witnesses who have had ocular demon- 
stration of the fact? One may even enter into wedlock 
32 



376 



The Old World — Syria, 



with these strange beings ; the union endures for life ; but 
the human consort renounces thereby all the hopes and 
consolations of religion. Instances are notorious in Syria 
of men who are married to female djins ; a native Chris- 
tian hakkim of Acre is mentioned as having contracted 
an alliance of this kind. When he walks through the 
streets the children run after him, shouting, " There goes 
the husband of the djiniyeh." This man's sister was killed 
by an unknown hand for having disclosed her brother's 
unhallowed dealings to her confessor. 

The djins are not malicious if you take care not to 
offend them ; but as their power is immense, and their 
tempers capricious, the Arab regards them with extreme 
awe. Nothing would induce him voluntarily to pass the 
night in a dark room. If he had but two paras in the 
world he would spend them upon a little oil and cotton ; 
for it is in the dark the djins are most terrible. The 
women will never venture to talk of these beings, unless 
when they are assembled in numbers sufficient to give 
them unusual confidence ; two or three women alone in 
a room would not dare even to utter the name of djin. 

It is now about fifty years since a midwife, living in 
Tripoli, was called up in the night to attend a lying-in 
woman. She obeyed the summons, and, accompanying 
the man who called her, she entered a house unknown to 
her. Her guide showed her into a bath-room and then 
disappeared. The good woman, thus left alone and 
suddenly hearing strange, unaccountable noises around 
her, was beginning heartily to wish herself safe at home, 
when all at once a magnificent and brilliantly-lighted 
room opened before her : in it were forty women, one of 
whom was lying down and appeared to require the mid- 
wife's aid. Who should know more of the w T orld and its 
inhabitants than those whose lives are spent in helping to 



Coast-Towns of Syria. 



377 



people it ? The midwife saw at a glance that she was 
among an assembly of djiniyehs, and she wisely resolved 
to do her best to please them. After having assisted at 
the birth of the child, she set about tinging its eyelashes 
and eyebrows black, according to the custom of the 
Arabs. Possibly, her trepidation may have occasioned 
some awkwardness in the performance of this operation : 
at any rate, one of the females present came up to her, 
and under pretence of showing her how the surmeh 
should be applied, she poked out the poor woman's eye. 
The sufferer durst not utter a cry or make the least com- 
plaint. Soon after this, casting a glance of her remain- 
ing eye on a female near her, she recognized, to her great 
surprise, a pelisse which she knew well belonged to a 
cousin of her own living in Tripoli. Taking advantage 
of a moment when the djiniyehs were looking another 
way, she stole into the bath-room and took up a pinch of 
red powder, with which she furtively marked the skirt of 
her cousin's pelisse, in order that she might afterward be 
able to assure herself of the reality of what she had seen. 
At last when the djiniyehs were tired of tormenting the 
poor woman, they sent her away, first bestowing on her a 
casket filled with gold pieces, all counted in her presence. 
On reaching home, the midwife made haste to open the 
casket, but to her dismay she found it filled with onions. 
The next day she paid a visit to her cousin, upon whose 
back she saw, sure enough, the very pelisse that had 
attracted her attention during the strange scenes of the 
preceding night — the red spot was on the skirt. The 
djeniyehs had borrowed it for a night, and had brought it 
back before dawn. As for the midwife, she continued 
blind of an eye till the day of her death. 

The road leading out of Tripoli toward the cedars of 
Lebanon affords an admirable prospect. It winds along 



378 The Old World— Syria. 



the banks of a river enclosed between two hills, and over- 
shadowed by beautiful trees and orange groves. A kiosk 
or cafe built beneath these trees offers its perfumed terrace 
to promenaders, who resort thither to smoke, drink coffee, 
and enjoy the freshness of the air, wafted from above the 
stream. From this spot you look through a vista upon 
the sea, which is half a league from the town, on the 
picturesque square towers along the coast and the numer- 
ous vessels in the harbor. 

Leaving Tripoli, a run of seven hours brings us to 
Latakiah. Shortly after anchoring we go on shore and 
make a thorough examination of the town and suburbs. 
After traversing its narrow, dirty streets for an hour or 
two — observing the manners and customs of its people, 
and visiting such points as were thought of special in- 
terest — the guide, at our suggestion, conducts us to the 
top of one of the minarets, from which we have an ex- 
tended view of the town and surrounding country. 

Before proceeding to describe Latakiah, however, we 
may be permitted to say a word of the country lying be- 
tween it and Tripoli, of which we have a good view from 
the deck of our vessel as we pass along the coast. In 
some way, or for some cause, this region of Syria is 
known as " the s?iake or serpent country/' and the local 
nomenclature of its places designates it accordingly. 
Thus we have what the natives call the Serpent Foun- 
tain ; and near Gebelee there is a hill called Jebel-el- 
Hayah (Serpent Mountain), which is said to derive its 
name from the ancient ophiogene race of Cyprus, some 
of whom settled here, and from whom many of the mod- 
ern snake-charmers of Syria pretend to be descended. 

There are in Syria, as well as in India (and some we 
saw wmile at Cairo, Egypt), who boast of the same pow r er 
over serpents as that possessed by the ancient psylli of 



Coast-Towns of Syria. 



379 



Africa. They will fearlessly handle the most dangerous 
serpents, fold them round their bodies, provoke and bite 
them, because, as they tell you, the serpent has no power 
to hurt them. The probability is that they take the sim- 
ple precaution of disarming the reptile by extracting its 
poison-fangs. These men are often called in to private 
houses to conjure the serpents out of the walls. The 
reptiles, on hearing the call of the charmer, soon put out 
their heads ; and, after being vehemently adjured by the 
great name I by the greatest of names I they creep ob- 
sequiously into the bag held open to receive them. The 
whole force of the conjuration consists, doubtless, in 
legerdemain ; but so adroitly is it performed that a person 
even aware of the trick might sometimes be almost im- 
posed on by it. 

The superstitious notions of the Syrians respecting ser- 
pents and snakes surpass all imaginable measure of ab- 
surdity. They attribute numberless powers for good or 
evil to those disgusting reptiles ; and very rarely does a 
Syrian peasant venture to kill or even to disturb a serpent 
that has made its nest in a wall, being firmly persuaded 
that the whole generation of the killed or wounded reptile 
would implacably pursue the murderer and his kin till 
their vengeance was satisfied. Precisely the same belief 
prevails, as we are told by Kohl, among the inhabitants 
of the southern steppes of Russia, who are generally too 
much afraid of a snake to kill it, even though it take up 
its abode under the same roof with them. " Let a snake 
alone," says the Russian, "and he will let you alone ; but 
if you kill it, its whole race will persecute you." In sup- 
port of their belief in something of a corporation spirit 
among the snakes which prompts them to revenge the 
blood of a relation, they appeal to the twenty-eighth 
chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, where it is said : 
32* 



380 The Old World— Syria. 



" And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and 
laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat 
and fastened on his hand. And when the barbarians saw 
the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among 
themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, 
though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth 
not to live." The expression "murderer" in this passage 
they interpret to mean a murderer of snakes ; and the 
" vengeance" to mean the vengeance of a snake on one 
that has dyed his hand in the blood of another snake. 
The snake they believe is in the habit of dispensing poet- 
ical justice toward murderers in general, but more par- 
ticularly toward those worst of murderers — the killers of 
snakes. 

The married woman, whose longings to be a mother 
have proved vain, in spite of all her vows and her con- 
sultations of santons and sages, betakes her, as a last re- 
source, to the aid of the black serpent, and she feels as- 
sured that if she wears the dead body of one of those 
creatures next her skin for three days she will not long 
be deprived of the honors of maternity. Very serious 
accidents have often resulted from this practice. Some 
years ago a considerable number of dark-colored snakes, 
rendered torpid by cold, were carried down by the river 
to Cai'fTa, near Mount Carmel. When the circumstance 
was made known, all the married women of the district 
who were not blessed with children flocked to the spot 
to get themselves a snake for a girdle ; but the snakes, 
many of which were venomous, were only numbed ; the 
warmth of the body revived them, and the lives of several 
of the women were greatly endangered by the bites they 
received. It is said that one unfortunate young woman, 
who had consented with extreme repugnance to employ 
this horrible remedy, was so terrified when she felt the 



Coast- Towns of Syria. 



381 



cold pressure of the reviving reptile, as it writhed round 
her body, that she threw herself from the house-top and 
was killed on the spot. 

When any one has been bitten by a serpent, the Syrians 
set it down for certain that the venomous creature had. 
been provoked by the wounded man or by some of his 
ancestors. But they have a sovereign remedy, which 
absorbs, as they assert, every particle of venom from the 
wound. This is nothing more or less than the applica- 
tion to the injured part of a small black, or yellowish, % 
porous stone, of a sort rarely met with. A fragment of 
such a stone is always valued at a high price ; but when 
a piece has acquired a certain reputation by the number 
of marvelous cures wrought by it, it then becomes worth 
its weight in gold. Madame Catafago, the wife of a* 
wealthy merchant, is. mistress of one of these stones ; it 
is a small piece of great renown, and cost her six hundred 
and eighty piastres, equaling about thirty-five dollars. 

Talking of strange remedies reminds us to say that the 
ashes of playing-cards are the common recipe in Lebanon 
for the cure of intermittent fevers ; and the more thumbed 
and greasy the cards the greater is their efficacy. The 
ashes are mixed up with water, and administered as a 
draught. 

Cases of hydrophobia occur, though very rarely, in 
Syria. When the disease delares itself, a messenger must 
be instantly despatched and bring back, within three davs 
from the first attack of the malady, a specific, the secret 
of w T hich is known only to an old man of the village of 
Sheikh Akmar, three leagues from Acre. It is a violent 
drastic purgative, composed of simples gathered by the 
old hakkim himself. The Syrians assert that it is an in- 
fallible cure for hydrophobia ; but, with their usual prone- 
ness to the marvelous, they add that the first visible 



382 



The Old World— Syria. 



effect of the medicine is to relieve the patient of clots of 
blood, in which the forms of little dogs are plainly to be 
discerned. Strange as it may appear, most of the Eu- 
ropean families settled in the country put as much faith 
in these stories as the natives themselves. The whole 
Catafago family of Seyde and Nazarete bear testimony as 
eye-witnesses to the curious operation of this remedy. 

When a Druse is attacked with hydrophobia, he is 
seldom left to die of the disease, but the event is antici- 
* pated by those about him. They say that to cause the 
immediate death of the sufferer it is only necessary to sift 
some hot vine ashes on his bare and shaven crown. 

Irby and Mangles relate that when they passed through 
Asdoud, a village north of Gaza, some of the women 
-were very importunate in their entreaties to be favored 
with a few locks from the travelers' heads. The request 
was ungallantly refused. Perhaps it might have been 
otherwise had the ladies desired the locks for love-tokens, 
bat the fact was, they wanted them as a charm to add to 
the efficacy of some medicine the Franks had given 
them for a sick kinsman. The women said that the 
smoke of Christian hair, burnt while the medicine was 
warming, would ensure a cure of the patient's disorder. 
Some Arabs, to secure the hair, will take the head and 
all. 

We also see along the coast, on the way, what is known 
as the Syrian sponge-fishery, which belongs to some 
princes of Lebanon, who usually sell their rights to mer- 
chants. The divers, all Greeks of the Archipelago, arrive 
in their little vessels on the coast of Syria in the month of 
May, and the fishing continues until September. Their 
employment is an exceedingly laborious one, and not ex- 
empt from danger ; but as they know that sharks haunt 
these coasts, they take due precautions against them, and 



Coast-Towns of Syria. 



•383 



accidents rarely happen. The constant working of the 
same banks is beginning to diminish the quantity of sponges, 
and the fishery has been observed for some years to grow 
less and less productive. 

But to return from our digression. When we asked to 
go to the top of the minaret in Latakiah we had but little 
hope that our request would be granted, as we had sup- 
posed that none but Moslems were ever permitted to as- 
cend the sacred stairway. Whether on account of the 
broad scimetar which our guide wore at his side, or by the 
Turkish tarbouch which we ourself wore, or by our sun- 
burnt skin and long beard, we were taken for a veritable 
Turk and thus admitted by the keeper of the mosque, we 
cannot tell ; but certain it is that we reached the spot 
where the muezzin stands when he calls the faithful to 
prayer, crying out, or rather singing out, "Prayer is better 
than sleep ; awake and pray." 

Latakiah, which in the last century was one of the most 
flourishing cities on the coast, has been so frequently over- 
thrown by earthquakes that one can scarcely move in it 
without everywhere encountering ruins and heaps of fallen 
materials. The ancient port of Laodicea, which, if history 
may be relied on, was capable of containing a thousand gal- 
leys, is now partly choked with sand, and partly covered 
with orange, lemon, mulberry and jujube trees, forming an 
extensive garden. If Dolabella could revisit Laodicea with 
his fleet, he and his Romans would assuredly be not a 
little surprised to find they could gather oranges and ju- 
jubes on the very spot where their war-galleys formerly 
floated. The present harbor could not contain more than 
four or five vessels of a hundred and fifty or two hundred 
tons burden, and a few Arab boats. It would not cost 
much, if the people had sufficient enterprise and thrift, 
to render the port of Latakiah a safe and commodious 



384 



The Old World— Syria. 



one for vessels of all sizes, and thus supply the grand 
want of this coast — a harbor of refuge. 

The air of this region is very wholesome ; it is less con- 
fined than in some other parts of the coast — Tripoli for 
instance — for the mountains recede further from the sea, 
and toward the north the plain opens to a great extent. 
The water, however, is bad, and whilst everything with- 
out the town is verdant, fragrant and picturesque, all 
within it is disgustingly filthy. The ill-paved streets of 
the Greek quarter in particular, heaped with remains of 
dead animals and with filth of every kind, exhale an in- 
tolerable stench. 

The Christians of Latakiah appear to be of a very lively 
temperament, and are very fond of meeting together so- 
cially in the evenings to amuse each other with conversa- 
tion and story- telling. The women often dance in the 
style (but without the indecency) of the Egyptian almehs ; 
the men sing ; and Karaguse, the Turkish Punch, exhibits 
his not very chaste performances. 

Before leaving Latakiah we make a purchase of some 
native smoking tobacco, than which none has so high a 
reputation throughout Egypt and the whole of the East. 
We had smoked it on the Nile, at Cairo, Alexandria, and 
Jerusalem, and now that we are on the very spot of its 
growth and manufacture we resolve to lay in a supply for 
the balance of our Eastern and European tour. Its flavor 
is certainly unsurpassed, if equaled, by any other tobacco 
of the world. 

Some will smile at the mention of what may seem to 
them so trivial a matter, but not so with the lover of the 
long-drawn puff and curling wreath. To him the posses- 
sion of a good article of tobacco is worth more than a 
kingdom ; for, as he reclines on his soft divan, or lies back 
in his easy arm-chair, puffing away, while visions of angels 



Coast-Towns of Syria. 385 

float around him in the smoke which wreathes and curls 
about his head, what cares he for vexations or troubles, for 
kingdoms, principalities or p'owers ? 

The present Latakiah is unquestionably the ancient 
Laodicea, where was located one of the seven churches 
of Asia, and to whom John, in Revelation, was instructed 
to write, " I know thy work, that thou art neither cold 
nor hot ; I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because 
thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue 
thee out of my mouth." 

An old Roman arch, connected with the ruins of what 
seems to have been a church, is pointed out as the site of 
the building in which the first Christians of Laodicea met 
for worship, and where a Christian temple subsequently 
stood, erected, probably, by the Romans while in posses- 
sion of the country. The ruins of an old castle a little 
way out from the shore, and now entirely surrounded by 
water, alse bear evidence of being the work of the same 
great people. Wherever Rome planted her standard she 
erected palaces, castles, or temples as indices of her 
power and greatness, many of which remain to this day, 
if not in their freshness and glory, certainly in their mass- 
iveness and strength. 

Early next morning we reach Alexandretta, situated at 
the most north-eastern point of the archipelago, having a 
beautiful harbor in front and high mountains in the rear. 
The town is not large, but exceedingly picturesque and 
beautiful ; and being the port at which all the steamers 
running from Alexandria to Constantinople stop for coal- 
ing (the coal being brought from England), and being 
also the only outlet for the cotton and fruit raised in the 
surrounding country, it has acquired considerable commer- 
cial importance. 

The shore of the harbor above the town is a sandy 



386 The Old World— Syria. 



beach and a capital place for bathing — a fact which the 
Russian pilgrims on board seem to understand, as most 
of them, both men and women, go on shore throughout 
the day and bathe. 

We, too, take a small boat — kindly furnished by the 
captain — and, after rowing about the harbor for an hour 
or two, visiting the boats from which they are unloading 
cotton and wool, and inspecting its quality, finally direct 
our course to the upper end of the bay, and take a glorious 
bath in the harbor. 

We enjoy the bathing hugely, floundering around like 
a porpoise, and remaining in much longer than we should 
have done, as we subsequently find to our cost. The 
next day, and for two days after, we have severe chills 
followed by fever, as a consequence, no doubt, of remain- 
ing in the water too long. We mention this as a warn- 
ing to others who may undertake a like luxurious though 
somewhat risky experiment. 




CHAPTER XX. 

THE CEDARS OF LEBANON. 

BEFORE bidding a final adieu to Syria — as, hereafter, 
our sight-seeing will be in Asia Minor and in Con- 
stantinople — we think it best, in order that our readers 
may have a more perfect knowledge of the country and 
its peculiarities, to treat of two other subjects, namely, 
Syrian dwelling-houses and the cedars of Lebanon ; and 
in our description of these we propose to give not only 
our own observations, so far as they go, but the observa- 
tions of other travelers as well. 

The simplest form of a Syrian dwelling-house is that 
of a plain box, with one room in the basement serving 
for parlor, kitchen, and hall, and one above this in which 
the family sleep. But the real domicile, for the greater 
part of the year, is more properly the flat-terraced roof, 
where the women and the children pass the day, and 
frequently the night also. 

The materials out of which most of the commoner 
houses are constructed — and some of the better class also 
— consist of mud or bricks dried in the sun, having 
chopped straw worked up with the substance to render 
it more tenacious ; and this, too, even in Damascus and 
Beyrout, where stone is abundant. In the more mountain- 
ous districts of Syria many villages are built wholly of 
33 387 



388 The Old World— Syria. 



stone, roughly laid, with but little mud or mortar in the 
interstices. 

The better class of dwellings is of a quadrangular form, 
built round a court-yard, to which admission is gained 
from the street by an arched doorway and a low, dark 
passage : the latter has commonly two turnings, so that 
no prying eye may look through the opened door into the 
interior. In the centre a jet of water falls back bubbling 
and murmuring into a marble basin ; or if that beautiful 
ornament be wanting, there is a well in one of the cor- 
ners. In summer an awning is drawn across the court. 

The lower rooms of the rich are, like the court-yard, 
paved with marble, and have each a fountain, and the 
walls are adorned breast high with marble or beautiful 
wood-work of yellow cedar : they are furnished with 
cupboards for the stowage of bedding, and open niches 
or ornamental slabs for vases with water, sherbet, or 
flowers. The floor is divided into two parts : a lower 
and smaller one next the court, where the servants stand 
with folded arms watching their master's looks ; and a 
raised platform, like the dais in an old baronial hall, 
separated from the lower part by a handsome balustrade. 
The higher portion is called the leewan, and the lower 
portion the doorckaah. The former is reserved for the 
master of the house and his friends. When the attend- 
ance of the servants is required, if they be not in the 
doorckaah, they are summoned by clapping the hands, for 
house-bells are unknown in the East. 

The rooms in the upper story constitute the harem, or 
private apartments of the family ; those on the ground 
floor are often without any external opening to admit 
light ; and are used only as store-rooms and domestic 
offices. In the houses of the wealthy there are rooms 
for the reception of male guests on the basement. Some 



The Cedars of Lebanon. 



389 



of them are entirely open on the side next the court, and 
are haunted by birds of beautiful plumage. 

The ceiling is highly painted and adorned ; the part 
over the leewan is sometimes vaulted and decorated with 
pendant ornaments, particularly in the houses of the 
Turks. More commonly the beams are left uncovered, 
and are carved, partially painted, and sometimes gilded. 
But the ceiling over the doorckaah, which is higher than 
over the leewan, is usually more richly decorated with 
small stripes of gilding and various gay colors arranged 
in curiously complicated patterns, yet perfectly regular, 
and having a highly ornamental effect. The ceiling of a 
projecting window is often adorned in the same manner. 
Good taste is evinced by thus decorating only such parts 
as are not always before the eyes ; for to look long at so 
many lines intersecting each other in all directions would 
be painful. 

The leewan is covered with a mat in summer and a 
carpet over this in winter ; and a sofa, raised from six 
inches to a foot, runs round its three sides, forming what 
is called the deewan, or divan. The sofa is a little higher 
before than behind, and is about four feet wide ; cushions 
four feet long and two feet high lean against the wall. 
The angles are the seats of honor, as among the ancient 
Greeks : the right corner is the chief place ; then the sofa 
along the top and general proximity to the right corner. 
But even here the Eastern's respect for man above cir- 
cumstances is shown. The relative value of the positions 
all round the room is changed, should the person of the 
highest rank accidentally occupy another place. 

Except when the room is open toward the court, it is 
lighted by latticed windows at the upper end, usually ex- 
tending across its whole breadth, and forming a deep re- 
cess or balcony carried out on corbels, the floor of which 



390 The Old World— Syria. 



is also furnished with a divan. The consequence of this 
arrangement of the seats and windows is that you sit 
with your back to the light and your face to the door ; the 
light, too, falls in a single mass, and from above, affording 
pictorial effects dear to the artist. Instead of this balcony 
there is sometimes a small raised alcove, which, with the 
steps leading up to it, is shut off from the leewan by a 
screen of curiously wrought lattice-work. It is just large 
enough to hold a mattrass and silk pillows, and to serve 
the rich Turk or Arab as a dormitory. Men of inferior 
station content themselves with mattrasses laid on the 
floor, upon which they sleep without undressing. The 
domestics lay themselves down by the street door, in the 
passage, or in the court ; no one ever gives himself any 
concern about finding sleeping room or accommodation 
for them. The common people in Syria have no other 
bed than an Egyptian straw mat on the ground or on the 
housetop ; the beauty of the climate makes up for the 
want of all other appliances ; and even the stranger from 
the wintry North can desire no more delightful curtain 
over his head than the starry firmament, beneath which 
the light breeze fans and lulls him to repose. There is 
very little dew in this country, except on the mountains, 
and one may generally sleep in the open air without in- 
convenience, with only a silk handkerchief over the head. 

As heretofore stated, the flat terrace roof is the almost 
universal style of Syrian houses. The commoner sort of 
roof is constructed by laying beams close together from 
one wall to the other ; over these is placed small brush or 
straw, and, over this, a thick layer of mud, which, when 
thoroughly dried, becomes very hard, and only needs ad- 
ditions and re-rollings after each rainy season. 

The terrace roofs of the best houses are thus con- 
structed : across the beams forming the ceiling of the up- 



The Cedars of Lebanon. 391 

permost story deal planks are laid, fitting nicely together, 
and over these rafters are placed transversely, the inter- 
stices between which are filled up with chopped hay or 
straw, mixed with lime and small pebbles. Upon this 
# surface is laid a layer of pounded charcoal, then one of 
lime and sand, mixed up with ashes and charcoal, and 
the whole is rolled and beaten with a mallet till it as- 
sumes a bright polish and is impermeable to the rain. 
Houses thus covered are well enough in the long dry 
weather ; but woe to their inmates when the rains set in, 
for then their choice is only between showers of water 
and showers of mud. 

The fashion of flat roofs is, in some measure, attended 
with results at variance with the jealous privacy affected 
in the domestic economy of the East. A gentleman who 
rises early may see more of his neighbor's menage than 
is consistent with strict propriety ; if his position be a 
good one he may sometimes play peeping Tom to a 
whole city in the gray morning, and houses will occa- 
sionally be so placed that it is scarcely possible to avoid 
stealing a look into the court-yards of the adjoining 
families, where all appear unmasked ; the people move 
about in them like figures in the bottom of a pit, and the 
fairest ladies are occupied in the most humble offices. 
Many a tender tale of passion dates from a casual en- 
counter of the eyes, occasioned by this happy arrange- 
ment of the house-tops, whereas our sloping roofs are 
privy only to the soft whisperings of enamored cats. It 
was a flat roof, for instance, that enabled Hadji Baba to 
declare to his charmer that " her eyes had made roast 
meat of his heart ;" and from a similar post of vantage, 
on the top of a convent in Damascus, a gallant English- 
man — But we will let him tell his own story : 

" In a house near the convent I caught an occasional 
33* 



39 2 



The Old World — Syria. 



glimpse of so beautiful a face that I was tempted to seek 
its light oftener, perhaps, than would be wise to acknowl- 
edge. I thought I had never seen so perfectly lovely a 
countenance. A grated window, which looked into the 
centre area of the house, concealed the figure from me . 
and prevented my seeing in what occupation so graceful 
a creature was engaged. As she cast her eyes upward 
through the bars — and they were the most expressive 
eyes in the world — I was so fascinated that she must 
have been duller than Eastern ladies generally are had 
she not perceived it. It happened, therefore, whenever I 
walked upon the terrace that accident brought the beau- 
tiful Helena to the grated window ; and I grew impatient 
to liberate her from what seemed to me a most barbarous 
imprisonment. 

" The happy moment at length arrived. I had bought 
a large bunch of violets in my ramble through the bazaar, 
and, armed with so infallible an interpreter, I appeared 
at my post ; she was busily engaged, but suspended her 
work a while on perceiving me, and, leaning her cheek 
upon her hand, like Juliet, made behind her prison bars 
the prettiest picture imaginable. A bright instrument 
was in the left hand, and I thought she might have been 
passing her seclusion in some elegant embroidery. Now, 
however, I resolved to tempt her from the window, and, 
kissing my violets, threw them over the wall. She rose, 
and, clattering on a pair of high wooden shoes, came 
forth with a knife in one hand and a fish she had been 
scraping in the other. My romance was at an end in a 
moment, and I never could recover gravity enough to re- 
turn to the terrace. She was exceedingly beautiful, the 
daughter of a rich merchant, and had, as usual, been be- 
trothed in her youth, but to a man who had proved false ; 
he had gone to Alexandria, it was said, and had never 



The Cedars of Lebanon. 



393 



since been heard of. Her unfortunate story and her 
beauty were equally subjects of conversation among her 
acquaintances. I found the misfortune, however, was 
not in the desertion so much as in the necessity of re- 
maining - single until the death of the affianced husband 
should enable her to take another." 

While, as we have shown, there is much comfort and 
a certain kind of luxury in the internal arrangements of 
the better class of Syrian houses, still there are circum- 
stances which it must be owned do somewhat detract 
from the pleasure of living in them ; fleas swarm in every 
apartment during the cooler months and mosquitoes give 
you no rest during the heat ; ugly little lizards run about 
your bedroom and many of the old houses are infested 
with black snakes. On entering your room at night you 
may chance to see an extraordinary shadow moving 
across the floor. You stoop down to ascertain whether 
it is a mouse or a lizard, and find an immense strong- 
legged, hairy spider, as big as a pigeon's egg. In your 
horror at his appearance you allow the monster to escape 
into his hole and are left in the delightful uncertainty 
whether he won't return to pay you a visit in bed. But 
one gets accustomed to all these things, and they soon 
cease to occasion any very great discomfort ; you find 
that the lizards are very harmless ; you declare a war of 
extermination against the spiders and you learn to sub- 
mit to the fleas and mosquitoes, because you must. Fleas 
can, by no care whatever, be excluded from the neatest 
houses ; the long Eastern habit, affording them shelter, is 
a favorable conveyance, and the streets and dusty bazaars 
so swarm with them that it is impossible to walk abroad 
without collecting a colony. The frequent use of the 
bath is in some measure a protection against another 
kind of vermin ; but there is no remedy against your flea, 



394 The Old World — Syria. 



that pertinacious persecutor, which an Arab author de- 
scribes as "a black, nimble, extenuated, hunchbacked 
animal, which, being sensible when any one looks on it, 
jumps incessantly, now on one side, now on the other, 
till it gets out of sight." 

Passing from Syrian dwelling-houses, let us next take 
a view of the heights of Lebanon, and especially of the 
cedars of Lebanon ; and here we cannot do better than 
follow Lord Lindsay, who visited the cedars in the month 
of June. Ascending the eastern slope of the mountains 
in the direction from Baalbec to Bsherray, he says : 

" An hour afterward we reached an immense wreath 
of snow, lying on the breast of the mountain, just below 
the summit — and from that summit five minutes afterward 
what a prospect opened before us ! Two vast ridges of 
Lebanon, curving westward from the central spot where 
we stood like the horns of a bent bow or the w T ings of a 
theatre, ran down toward the sea, breaking in their de- 
scent into a hundred minor hills, between which, unseen, 
unheard, and through as deep, and dark, and jagged a 
chasm as ever yawned, the Kadisha, or sacred river of 
Lebanon, rushes down to the Mediterranean — the blue 
and boundless Mediterranean — w r hich, far on the western 
horizon, meets and mingles with the sky. 

" Our eyes, coming home again after roving over the 
noble view, we had leisure to observe a small clump of 
trees, not larger apparently than a clump in an English 
park, at the very foot of the northern wing or horn of 
this grand natural theatre: these were the far-famed 
cedars. We were an hour and twenty minutes reaching 
them, the descent being very precipitous and difficult. 
As we entered the grove, the air was quite perfumed with 
their odor, the ' smell of Lebanon,' so celebrated by the 
pen of inspiration. 



The Cedars of Lebanon. 



395 



" The grove stands on a group of stony knolls, about 
three quarters of a mile in circumference, and consists of 
three or four hundred trees partly the remains of a forest 
that once perhaps filled the whole valley, and partly the 
younger progeny of the venerable patriarchs amongst 
them. The younger are very numerous, and would form 
a noble wood of themselves, were even the patriarchal 
dynasty quite extinct ; one of them, by no means the 
largest, measures nineteen feet and a quarter in circum- 
ference, and, in repeated instances, two, three and four 
large trunks spring from a single root — but they have all 
a fresher appearance than the patriarchs and straighter 
stems — straight as young palm trees. They are not so 
very young, either. Russegger thinks that most of the 
trees in the grove may be a couple of centuries old, and 
several between the ages of four hundred and eight hun- 
dred years ; there are twelve whose age is incalculable ; 
seven standing very near each other, three more a little 
farther on, nearly in a line with them, and two, not 
observed by any recent traveler except Lord Lindsay, on 
the northern end edge of the grove ; the largest of these 
two is sixty-three feet in circumference (following the 
sinuosities of the bark) ; one of the others measures forty- 
nine feet. 

" These giants are more remarkable for girth than 
stature, their height hardly exceeding fifty feet ; they all 
part into several stems, but as this partition takes place 
about five feet from the root, there is not the difficulty 
which some have alleged in ascertaining their true dimen- 
sions. Their age is very variously estimated ; their most 
sanguine admirers believe them to have been contem- 
porary with Solomon ; and though this draws rather too 
strongly on our credulity, yet there is no direct evidence 
to contradict it. The rules by which botanists determine 



396 The Old World— Syria. 



the age of trees are not applicable to these, for their 
stems have ceased to grow in regular concentric rings ; 
they owe their prolonged existence to the superior vitality 
of a portion of their bark which has survived the decay 
of the rest. Russegger, however, is inclined to admit 
that these trees may possibly number some two thousand 
years, taking into consideration their size, their girth, the 
stony soil in which they grow and their lofty position, 
exposed so much to the violence of the winds. 

" They are certainly the most celebrated natural monu- 
ments in the universe. Religion, poetry and history 
have equally consecrated them ; they furnish a class of 
images which the inspired writers use with especial pref- 
erence. The Arabs of all creeds have a traditional 
veneration for these trees. They believe that an evil fate 
would surely overtake any one who shall dare to lay 
sacrilegious hands on these sai?its, as they fondly call 
them. They attribute to them not only a vegetative 
vigor that endows them with perpetual existence, but 
also a soul which enables them to exhibit signs of sagacity 
and foresight, similar to those arising from instinct in 
animals and from intellect in man. They know the 
seasons beforehand : they move their vast limbs, they 
stretch them out or draw them in, raise them to the 
heavens or bend them to the earth, according as the snow 
is about to fall or melt. They are divine beings under 
the form of trees. This is the only spot on the chain of 
Lebanon where they grow, and here they take root far 
above the region where all considerable vegetation ceases. 
All this strikes and astonishes the imagination of the 
people of the East, and I know not but that science itself 
would be surprised. 

" Every year, at the Feast of the Transfiguration, the 
Maronites, Greeks and Armenians mount to the cedars 



The Cedars of Lebanon. 



397 



and celebrate mass on a homely altar of stone at their 
feet. How many prayers have resounded under their 
branches ! And what more sublime temple ! What altar 
nearer the heavens ! What fane more majestic and holy 
than the loftiest level of Lebanon, the trunks of the cedars, 
and the canopy of those sacred branches which have 
shaded and still shade so many human generations, pro- 
nouncing the name of God in different accents, but recog- 
nizing him everywhere in his works, and adoring him in 
the manifestations of his creation ! 

" The stately bearing and graceful repose of the young 
cedars contrast singularly with the wild aspect and frantic 
attitude of the old ones, flinging abroad their knotted and 
muscular limbs like so many Laocoons, while others, 
broken off, lie rotting at their feet ; but life is strong in 
them all ; they look as if they had been struggling for 
existence with evil spirits, and God had interposed and 
forbidden the war, that the trees he had planted might 
remain living witnesses to faithless men of the ancient 
' glory of Lebanon.' . . . . Burckhardt says, ' The oldest 
trees are distinguished by having the foliage and small 
branches at the top only, and by four, five, or even seven 
trunks springing from one base. The branches and 
foliage of the others were lower, but we saw none whose 
leaves touched the ground like those at Kew Gardens.' 

" The very air of the cedar impresses one with the idea 
of its comparative immortality. There is a firmness in 
the bark and a stability in the trunk, in the mode in which 
it lays hold of the ground, and in the form of the branches 
and their insertion into the trunk, not found in any other 
pine, scarcely in any other tree. The foliage, too, is 
superior to that of any other of the tribe, each branch 
being perfect in its form ; the points of the leaves spread 
upward into beautiful little tufts, and the whole upper 



398 



The Old World— Syria. 



surface of the branch has the appearance of velvet ; the 
color is a rich green, wanting the bluish tint of the pine 
and fir, and the lurid and gloomy hue of the cypress. 
The cedar is an evergreen ; the fruit resembles the cone 
of the pine ; the wood is compact and of a beautiful 
brown tint, and though its resistance to actual wear is not 
equal to that of the oak, it is so bitter that no insect will 
touch it, and it seems proof against time itself." 

In the convent at Bethlehem we saw rafters made from 
these cedars, which were hewn out and placed in position 
more than fifteen centuries ago, and they seem, and we 
presume they are, as sound to-day as when first placed 
there. If the rapidity of the growth of the cedar w T ere at 
all correspondent to its other qualities, it would be the 
most valuable tree in the forest. 

Lord Lindsay had intended proceeding that evening to 
Bsherray ; " But no," he adds, " we could not resolve to 
leave these glorious trees so soon — the loveliest, the no- 
blest, the holiest in the world. The tent was pitched, and 
we spent the rest of the day under their ' shadowy shroud.' 
Oh what a church that grove is ! Never did I think Solo- 
mon's song so beautiful, and that most noble chapter of 
Ezekiel, the thirty- first ; I had read it on the heights of 
Syene, Egypt on my right hand and Ethiopia on my left, 
with many another denunciation, how awfully fulfilled, 
of desolation against Pathros and judgments against No. 
But this was the place to enjoy it, lying under one of these 
vast trees, looking up every now and then into its thick 
boughs, hearing the little birds warbling, and a perpetual 
hum of insect life pervading the air with its drowsy melody. 
Eden is close by — these are the ' trees of Eden,' ' the choice 
and best of Lebanon,' these are the trees — there can be 
none nobler — which Solomon spake of, ' from the cedar of 
Lebanon to the hyssop on the wall ;' the object of repeated 



The Cedars of Lebanon. 



399 



allusion and comparison throughout the Bible, the emblem 
of the righteous in David's Sabbath hymn, and, honor 
above honor, the likeness of the countenance of the Son of 
God in the inspired canticles of Solomon. 

" Our encampment was very picturesque that night, the 
fire throwing a strong light on the cedar that overcanopied 
us ; those enormous arms of ghastly whiteness seemed 
almost alive, and about to catch us up into the thick dark- 
ness they issued from." 

In a former chapter we described at some length the 
peculiarities of the Druses ; and here, on the heights and 
along the slopes of Lebanon, we find a sect called the 
Metualis, which, in many particulars, are scarcely less 
singular. 

The Metualis are followers of Ali, as the Turks are of 
Omar ; they therefore belong to the same great division 
of Islamism as the Persians and other Shiites, but there 
is something very peculiar in their tenets and usages that 
essentially distinguishes them from all the other believers 
in Ali. I will, says Perrier, relate what I have learned 
of them from the lips of their aged men, who take delight 
in explaining the old books that tell of their ancient might. 
Their history has for some centuries been identified with 
that of Syria, and there is scarcely a town, village or ham- 
let in the country respecting which the Metualis have not 
some interesting legend or anecdote to recount. I felt an 
indescribable pleasure in hearing two old white-bearded 
Metualis describing their ancient glory, the power of their 
ancestors in Syria, and the wars of other days ; and then 
speaking, with tears in their eyes, of their present low 
estate, the persecutions they suffered at the hand of the 
terrible Djezzar, and the final downfall of their nation. 

Some years before the civil wars began by Omar-el- 
Daher in the last century, the Metualis were still numerous 
34 



4°° 



The Old World— Syria. 



and strong in Syria ; their numbers were then at least 
double what they now are, and they were under the govern- 
ment of their own macaiehs, or district chiefs. After 
Omar-el-Daher was put down, this little nation, which 
had previously suffered severely, was beginning to recover 
from its disasters when the terrible sway of Ahmed-Djez- 
zar supervened and completed its ruin. 

After enduring intense oppression at the hands of the 
savage pasha, they at last took up arms in their own de- 
fence. They were successful at first ; defeated Djezzar's 
troops in every engagement, and took several important 
fortresses in the Belad Beshara, perched like eyries on 
the tops of the scarped cliffs. The crafty pasha, finding 
that he could not prevail over them by mere force, con- 
trived to gain over some of their chiefs by gold or pro- 
mises, and to sow dissension among them. Ere long their 
operations became languid and ineffectual, and Djezzar 
had timely warning of all their designs through his spies. 
He soon had the upper hand ; and he carried out his mea- 
sures against the revolters with his usual vigor, impaling 
all that fell into his hands. He laid siege to the important 
fortress of Nabatieh with a force of seven thousand men 
and three pieces of cannon. Some hundreds of the Metu- 
alis had shut themselves up in the fortress, which they de- 
fended with obstinate courage. The position of this im- 
portant fortress is extraordinary and singularly romantic ; 
built in the times of the Crusades on an isolated cliff, which 
may be ascended on the western side by a steep flight of 
steps cut in the rock, it looks vertically down on the other 
three sides from a height of nine hundred feet on the river 
Kasmieh, the ancient Leontes. A few blocks of stone rolled 
upon the path on the only practicable side would be enough 
to baffle the attempts of a whole army. This was accord- 
ingly done by the besieged ; but the traitors who were 



The Cedars of Lebanon. 



401 



among them showed Djezzar a subterranean passage which 
led under the gate of the fortress, and which the besieged 
had walled up. 

Djezzar had two pieces of cannon brought by night 
into the subterraneous passage ; a few shots were fired, 
and so tremendous was the report, reverberated and mag- 
nified by the rocky walls, that the Metualis believed the 
pasha had undermined the whole clifF, and was blowing 
it up. A panic seized them, and they surrendered, stip- 
ulating only that their lives should be spared. But Djez- 
zar was not the man to be baulked of his vengeance by 
the faith of treaties — he beheaded most of his prisoners. 
As for the traitors who had enabled him to take the fort- 
ress, his avarice prompted him to deal them poetical 
justice, and he amused himself with seeing them hurled 
from the battlements into the Kasmieh. The capture of 
the fortresses, Nabatieh and El Shekef, gave the last blow 
to the power of the Metualis ; they scattered and fled, and 
Djezzar had them hunted down like wild beasts. All 
that fell into his hands were impaled at the gates of Acre 
or Seyde ; the greater part of their property was confis- 
cated, and the authority of their macaiehs was thence- 
forth abolished. Thus was for ever destroyed the influ- 
ence the Metualis were beginning to acquire, and which 
ranked next to that possessed by the Druses. 

When from home, the Metualis observe many of the 
outward practices of the Moslems. Their doctors or 
priests are called aiummats or first doctors. They re- 
cognize twelve imans as founders of their religion, the 
first of whom is Ali, and the rest his descendants to the 
eleventh generation. These imans they call the twelve 
doctors of the universe. All the Metualis look forward 
for the speedy coming of the mouhdi ( guide) of the race 
of Ali. This messiah, or mouhdi, will rule over the 



4-02 



The Old World — Syria. 



whole world, and will put. to a fearful death all those who 
shall have denied him ; he will then glorify his own, and 
will execute the judgment of God in the land of the sanc- 
tuary. 

The messiah they expect in common with many Per- 
sians is Mohammed el Mehdy (or Mouhdi), the twelfth 
and last of their imans, who suddenly disappeared, they 
say, after giving battle to the caliph of Babylon, near 
Karbela. The Turks, on the contrary, say that the iman 
was slain in the engagement and that his body was recog- 
nized on the field of battle. But, according to the belief 
of the Metualis and of a certain number of Persians, he 
was suddenly caught up and transported to Arabia, where 
he will one day appear triumphantly, re-establish the race 
of the imans on the throne, and slay all who shall have 
refused to own him. The Metualis give this messiah the 
name also of Sahab-Zaman (the master of time), be- 
cause he is not dead, and because he disposes of time and 
stops it at his pleasure, till the moment arrives to make 
himself known as Mohammed's vicar. 

Magnificent horses are always kept ready saddled and 
caparisoned, among the Metualis of Irik, in expectation 
of his return. No one ever mounts these chosen steeds, 
which are held in high veneration by the members of the 
sect. Several Metualis appropriate a part of their wealth 
to a reserved fund to be kept until the arrival of the 
mouhdi. 

The first apostle of the Metuali sect who settled in 
Syria was Abou-Abdallah-Mohammed, surnamed el 
Cheid-el-ewel, or the first martyr. He resided first in 
Jezin (nine leagues from Seyde), and, after making num- 
erous converts there, he went and preached at Sarfend 
(the ancient Sarepta), where he was soon followed by 
such a host of disciples that he was enabled to build 



The Cedars of Lebanon. 



seven great mosques in Jezin, three of which exist to this 
day. But the Damascus doctors, jealous of his popu- 
larity, challenged him to preach in that city and to main- 
tain a thesis against them. He fearlessly accepted the 
challenge, and so convincingly did he maintain the doc- 
trine of the followers of Ali that the baffled and mortified 
Sunnite doctors, finding their logic at fault, had recourse 
to intrigue, excited the ignorant populace against their 
triumphant adversary, and had him condemned to be 
burned alive as an infidel and blasphemer. Abou-Ab- 
dallah-Mohammed was swathed in a cloth steeped in 
combustibles, tied to a plank, and burned by a slow fire. 
Every year since that event, on the day after the return of 
the hadj caravan from Mecca, the populace assemble in 
the streets to burn a plank wrapped up in pitched cloths, 
and as it consumes they heap imprecations on the family 
of Ali, and shout with all their might, "May Allah burn 
the plank and curse the followers of Ali !" 

The Metualis have a horrible custom tolerated by the 
laws. In case of urgent need the father is authorized to 
expose his own children for sale in the slave-market, and 
instances are not rare in which this frightful privilege has 
been exercised. In the month of September, 1839, after 
the Syrian campaign, when the Egyptian government 
exacted all arrears of taxes with very great rigor, many 
girls from twelve to fifteen years of age were sold at 
Horns and Hamah by unfortunate Metualis of the district 
of Baalbec. They were offered at prices varying from 
one thousand to twelve hundred piastres, but purchasers 
would not give so much ; eleven were disposed of at 
Hamah and seven at Homs, and fetched on an aver- 
age from seven hundred to nine hundred piastres. 
Purchasers were deterred from bidding freely by the 
consideration that the father was entitled to redeem his 
34* 



The Old World— Syria. 



children at the end of a year by paying back the purchase 
money. 

Several of the Metuali families were formerly of princely 
rank, and their members enjoyed all the authority of emirs. 
The Turkish pashas and governors have gradually des- 
poiled them of their powers and confiscated most of their 
property ; but they have not found it so easy a task to 
divest them of the moral influence they possess among 
their brethren. 

The oldest and most renowned Metuali families in 
Syria are the Beit-el-Charfue, near Baalbec, the Beit 
Shebib of Gazia, the Beit Eweilan, Beit Emir Canjar, 
etc., etc. Any member of one of these families can at 
his pleasure instantly raise some villages and some hun- 
dreds of men, by the sole influence of his name, to main- 
tain his personal quarrel. 

Emir Canjar, the head of an ancient family in the 
neighborhood of Baalbec, underwent the indignity of being 
seized in the conscription of 1834 like a common peasant 
and enrolled in the Egyptian army, but he soon contrived 
to desert and return home. Notwithstanding the severe 
orders of Ibraham Pasha against all deserters, no steps 
were taken to recover possession of the emir's person ; 
the governor pretended not to know what had become of 
him, for he was certain that if he sent his soldiers to 
seize him by force, it would provoke a serious insurrection. 

Emir Canjar applied himself peaceably to his rural oc- 
cupations, and abstained from all conduct that would ex- 
cite the suspicion of the Egyptian government as long as 
he saw it in a strong position, but as soon as the moun- 
taineers of Lebanon began to stir, in the month of April, 
1840, he threw off the mask, though the insurgents were 
not of his own religion. He had his private wrongs to 
avenge, and vengeance is the Metuali's most intense pas- 



The Cedars of Lebanon. 



sion. Canjar put himself at the head of three or four 
hundred horsemen of his clan and joined the insurgent 
Maronites, who were encamped before Beyrout. His 
name was famous throughout all Syria for courage, skill, 
and prodigious bodily strength, and he fully justified his 
reputation by the mischief he did the Egyptians. He cut 
off numerous convoys of provisions and other military 
supplies, and for a long time blockaded the road to 
Damascus. The first revolt of Lebanon was, however, 
put down in a few days by the extraordinary address and 
energy of Mohammed Ali ; almost all the chiefs sub- 
mitted and humbly sued for pardon, but Canjar was not 
among the supplicants. He continued to wander about 
with his men through the most inaccessible regions of 
Lebanon, intercepting the couriers, and doing the Egyp- 
tians all the damage he could ; and this course he con- 
tinued unchecked till the allied fleet appeared before 
Beyrout. He was then one of the first to apply for arms, 
which he distributed among the inhabitants of his native 
village ; and, partly by persuasion, partly by force, he 
succeeded in bringing over some Maronite villages of the 
Kesrouan to the Turkish cause. He played an important 
part in the last decisive events that led to the expulsion 
of Ibrahim Pasha from Syria, and he contributed more 
than any other chief to the general insurrection of the 
mountaineers of Lebanon. 

Volumes might be filled with the legends current 
among the Metualis respecting the towns and villages of 
Syria. Some of these are very interesting, but they would 
occupy too much space. 



ASIA MINOR. 

9 



CHAPTER XXL 

ASIA MINOR. 

F^ROM Alexandretta our course lies westward, along 
the southern shore of Asia Minor. We reach Mersyn 
early next morning, where our steamer stops to take in 
cotton and lead. The quality of the cotton raised about 
this place is not very good, and the lead seems much harder 
than that which we usually get in America. 

The town itself is small, with nothing special to com- 
mend it to the attention of the tourist. 

From Mersyn our course still lies westward. We sail 
part of the time within sight of the capes, promontories, 
and bays made famous in ancient warfare — part of the 
time without sight of land, and not until Monday, at 10 A. 
M., having left Mersyn on Saturday, at 3 P. M., do we 
reach Rhodes. 

This town is located on an island of the same name, and 
though of but little beauty or importance now, at one time 
it played an important part in the world's history. In its 
institutions of learning, and in the determined valor of its 
citizens and their love of liberty, it occupied a foremost 
406 



Asia Minor. 



place among the cities of the ancients ; and in more mod- 
ern times the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem here con- 
ducted a most admirable defence against their mam- 
foes. 

From Rhodes we run north-westerly through Kos Chan- 
nel and Furni Pass until we round the peninsula of Kara- 
bournon, and then easterly until we reach the harbor of 
Smyrna. In the mean time we pass by the islands of 
Piscopi, Xicero. Kos, Kalimo. Lero. Patmos, Furni. Nikari, 
Khios. and others. All these islands have more or less 
celebrity and interest in connection with ancient history, 
but the one upon which we gaze with most interest is that 
of Patmos. 

Here it was that St. John was banished by the Emperor 
Domitian for daring to preach the gospel of Christ, and 
here it was that he wrote " The revelation of Jesus Christ 
which God gave unto him. to show unto his servants things 
which must shortly come to pass." 

During our passage from Rhodes to Smvrna our steamer 
meets with an accident, which for the time being seems 
to threaten instant destruction to all on board. 

About two o'clock in the morning a terrible shock is felt 
by all on board, awakening those who are asleep, and 
causing instant and terrible consternation to the hundreds 
of passengers on board. Cries and screams are heard all 
over the vessel : men. women and children are running 
hither and thither in utter bewilderment : the engine ceases 
its throbbings. and the general impression among the pas- 
sengers is that the vessel has struck upon a rock and must 
soon go to the bottom. 

The shock is so severe that we find -ourselves thrown 
from our berths to the floor of our state-room (whether 
thrown out by the jar or jumping out while asleep we 
know not), and it is some moments before we can suffi- 



408 The Old World — Asia Minor. 



ciently collect our thoughts to determine upon the best 

mode of procedure. 

Hastily putting on such clothes as we can most readily 
lay hands on, we rush into the passage-way and then upon 
deck to learn the cause and extent of the accident, and 
there learn that our vessel has not struck upon a rock, but 
that another steamer, in attempting to cross our bows, has 
run into us, tearing away about fifty feet of the bulwarks 
on the left side, smashing in a part of the forecastle and 
doing considerable other damage. 

An immediate trial of the pumps proves, however, that 
the vessel is not leaking, and a starting of the engines soon 
after reassures the passengers that, notwithstanding the 
accident, we can still pursue our journey. 

Further inquiries reveal the fact that some thirty of the 
deck passengers have been more or less injured by the 
staving in of the bulwarks and the falling of a cannon 
from the top of the forecastle to the deck, and that the in- 
juries of some twelve of the thirty are quite serious. 

The vessel which ran into us immediately veered off, 
and the officers of our steamer were unable then to deter- 
mine with certainty as to her character or nationality, but 
upon reaching Smyrna we learn that it was a Turkish 
man-of-war, which had left that port the day before. 

As may readily be supposed, the balance of the time 
in reaching Smyrna is chiefly occupied in discusssing the 
whys and wherefores of the accident. Was it because 
of negligence of our own officers or those of the other 
steamer? Were we run into purposely or by accident? 
How little more would have staved in the side of the hull 
as well as the bulwarks of our steamer, and how then 
could such an immense number of passengers have been 
saved from a watery grave ? 

Our officers seem quite as much interested in these in- 



Asia Minor. 



409 



quiries as the passengers, and are ready to answer and 
explain every query made of them. Indeed, in this 
respect, not only upon special but upon all occasions, the 
officers of a Russian steamer are far more obliging than 
those generally found upon steamers of other European 
nations. 

The sail up the harbor of Smyrna is most delightful, 
and at 5 P. M. we drop anchor opposite the far-famed 
city. 

At Smyrna we remain two days, and during that time 
we make the best possible use of our opportunities in 
examining objects of interest. 

First, we call at the American mission, and have a 
pleasant interview with the missionary in charge, Rev. H. 
J. Van Lennep and his estimable lady. The mission 
buildings are pleasantly situated, large, and commodious, 
and well furnished. The school-room is fitted up taste- 
fully, with large colored maps about the walls, and plenty 
of books, pens, paper, slates, etc., etc. The school is 
not in session when we call, and hence we have no oppor- 
tunity to see its pupils or workings. 

Rev. Mr. Van Lennep is a pleasant, intelligent gentle- 
man of about fifty years of age. He has been a mis- 
sionary in the East for many years, but has only been at 
Smyrna about three years, and is now working under the 
direction of the "American Board of Foreign Missions," 
for which position he seems admirably fitted. 

The school numbers about eighty pupils — the member- 
ship of the church twenty-five — and the attendance upon 
the church service about sixty adults, besides the pupils 
of the school. The station has been established since 
1833, and has several branches in different parts of Asia 
Minor, which are under the charge of native missionaries 
and visited occasionally by Mr. Van Lennep. The mis- 



410 The Old World — Asia Minor. 



sion, we should judge, is in a prosperous condition in every 
respect, and accomplishing as much good as could be 
expected among such a people. 

The next call is at the American consulate. The con- 
sul himself is absent, but his secretary very kindly fur- 
nishes us with American newspapers, and gives us such 
information concerning Smyrna as we ask for. 

After this we make a general tour of the city, examin- 
ing its streets and bazaars — the manner and customs of 
its people — its vehicles, horses, and donkeys — the Persian 
silks and carpets, of which this city is the great depot for 
a Western market, the goods being brought here overland 
by means of caravans — its "thousand and one" curiosities 
of every kind and description — and about sundown we 
return to our steamer, well satisfied with our first day's 
inspection of Smyrna. 

The following day we make the ascent of the high hills 
back of the city, for the purpose of seeing the tomb of 
Polycarp and the ruins of the old castle. 

This tomb of Polycarp is one of the few remaining 
monuments of the early Christians of the East ; for it 
will not be forgotten that here, at Smyrna, was located 
one of the seven churches of Asia, to whom John (in 
Revelation) was directed to write : 

" I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty (but 
thou art rich), and I know the blasphemy of them which 
say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of 
Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer ; 
behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison that 
ye may be tried ; and ye shall have tribulation ten days ; 
be thou faithful until death, and I will give thee a crown 
of life." 

For this faith Polycarp suffered martyrdom and received 
a " crown of life" — as did thousands of others throughout 



Asia Minor. 



411 



the East, who preferred to sacrifice life rather than abjure 
their faith in Jesus ; and his tomb remains to this day as 
a living monument of his faithfulness. 

The tomb is a rough structure of brick, plastered over 
and whitewashed. It is eleven feet two inches long, six 
feet six inches wide, and five feet high. Near by are other 
smaller tombs, and an immense cypress tree, which, like 
an angel of mercy, stands near to watch over the ashes 
of the sleeping martyr. 

A little way off, and on a still higher point of the hill, 
stand the ruins of the old castle, and to these our steps 
are next directed. 

These ruins cover a large area ; the walls are ten feet 
in thickness, with towers at each corner. There are three 
large excavations (probably used for powder magazines) 
within the walls, and just without the walls another still 
larger excavation, which our guide says was used as a 
theatre. This latter structure is entirely under ground, 
and has avenues, arches, and twenty-five columns, em- 
bracing a considerable area ; but how, or in what way, it 
could have been used as a" theatre," or for any other 
purpose requiring light or ventilation, is beyond our com- 
prehension. We rather incline to the opinion that it 
formed the substructure of a heathen temple, as it is 
plain to be seen from the debris lying scattered about, 
that the whole summit of the hill was at one time occu- 
pied bv buildings, and tradition, indeed, avers that the 
whole of ancient Smyrna stood upon this hill-top. . 

The view from this eminence, and especially from 
the top of the old castle walls, is extensive, grand, and 
beautiful. 

At our feet lies Smyrna, with its one hundred and 

fifty thousand inhabitants — narrow, dirty streets — fanciful 

Turkish houses and gilded minarets — curious cemeteries 
35 



412 The Old World — Asia Minor. 



with turbaned and gilded headstones and tall cypress 
trees. On the outskirts are handsome little villas sur- 
rounded by fig and orange groves ; still in front of us and 
beyond the city stretches out the beautiful harbor, filled 
with vessels of every shape and size, and from nearly all 
the nations of the earth ; on our right is a mountain cul- 
tivated to its very summit, and a valley studded all over 
with fig tree and orange ; on our left the peninsula of 
Karabournon, stretching far out toward the sea, and 
almost enclosing the harbor, of which it forms the south- 
western boundary ; and turning around, away off to the 
north-eastward runs a wide and well-cultivated valley, 
through which the iron rail and steam engine now carry 
passengers and freight as far as the site of ancient 
Ephesus, and will, ere long, carry them direct to Con- 
stantinople 

Of ancient Ephesus but little remains, though the 
excavations now going on may yet reveal to the antiqua- 
rian some objects of interest. Here, it will be recollected, 
was located another of the seven churches of Asia, to 
whom the Apostle John was instructed to say : 

" I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, 
and how thou canst not bear them which are evil : and 
thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are 
not, and hast found them liars : and hast borne and hast 
patience, and for my name's sake hast labored, and hast 
not fainted." 

It is nearly sundown of the 9th of May when we start 
from Smyrna, and as the evening is beautiful we remain 
on deck a long time, watching the well-cultivated shores 
of the harbor and the beautiful islands of the archipelago, 
so .much celebrated in ancient history. 

Our course lies through the Mytilene Channel, and we 
pass near by ancient Lesbos, which in the day of its 



Asia Minor. 



4 T 3 



greatest glory rivaled Athens in learning and the arts, 
and claimed the honor of being the birth-place of the 
immortal Sappho. We also pass Troas, the site of an- 
cient Troy, the history of which has been so often told in 
prose and poetry that every school-boy knows it well ; 
and directly opposite this is the island of Tenedos, where 
the wily Greeks hid themselves when they pretended to 
abandon the siege of Troy. 

Next morning we reach the town of Dardanelles, which 
is situated at the entrance of the Strait of Dardanelles, 
and here we stop for a time to let off some of the Russian 
pilgrims, who, in addition to their pilgrimage to Pales- 
tine, are about to make another to some far-off mountain 
(the name of which we have forgotten) which is thought 
to have about it something of sanctity. Those who are 
about to leave the steamer are kissed often and most 
affectionately by those remaining, and many a prayer is 
uttered for their safe return. 

Among the new passengers received on board at 
Smyrna was a Metropolitan Greek Bishop, whose vener- 
able age (being ninety-five years old) and august appear- 
ance excited much attention. Two young Greek priests 
repeated long and earnest prayers at his state-room door 
before we left the harbor ; and his deputy or secretary 
was constantly with him to administer to his wants — at 
table, in the cabin, or wherever else he moved. His 
feebleness from age rendered such attention absolutely 
necessary ; and yet, in voice and manner, the old man 
would occasionally brighten up and seem quite rejuven- 
ated. He left us at Makarania. 

Soon after leaving Dardanelles we reach Abydos, so 
celebrated in ancient story as the place where Leander, 
after swimming the Hellespont, nightly met his beautiful 
Hero ; and where she clasped his dead body to her arms, 



414 The Old World — Asia Minor. 



when, upon one fatal night, he was drowned while en- 
deavoring to reach his loved one. Among the most 
beautiful works of sculpture to be met with in any of the 
art galleries of Europe is that of Hero and Leander 
clasped in each other's arms. 

Byron also swam the Hellespont at this point (which 
just here is probably about half a mile in width), and 
having contracted the ague from so doing, was rather dis- 
posed to condemn both Leander and himself for attempt- 
ing so hazardous an enterprise. Alluding to the fate of 
Leander, he closes the poem by saying : 

" 'Twas hard to say who fared the best — 

Sad mortals ! thus the gods still plague you ; 
He lost his labor, I rrry jest, 

For he was drowned, and I've the ague." 

Upon both sides of the Dardanelles are towns, some 
larger, some smaller, and all picturesque, as seen from the 
deck of our passing steamer. There are also along either 
shore several ruins of fortifications, which, according to 
ancient- warfare, were doubtless places of great strength, 
but which could not stand a single shot from k * monitors" 
of the present day. 

Early in the afternoon we reach Gallipoli, and from 
thence we enter upon the Sea of Marmora. Nothing 
could be more beautiful than this little sea, with islands 
dotting its glassy surface here and there, and with the 
shores on either side like long lines of emerald. 

The approach to Constantinople from the Sea of Mar- 
mora is very beautiful. Long before we reach it we see 
the gilded domes and minarets of the numerous mosques ; 
and, as we approach still nearer, the city' itself seems to 
rise from out of the water and recline gently and grace- 
fully against the surrounding hillsides. 



Asia Minor. 



It has no long wharves jutting out into the sea, the Bos- 
phorus or the Golden Horn ; but everywhere along the 
water's edge the first row of buildings rises from a sufficient 
depth of water to allow the approach of small boats, called 
"caiques ;" and all the palaces and better class of residences 
built along the water have passage-ways or steps, from 
which the inmates of the dwellings can step into a caique 
whenever they wish to take a ride of pleasure or visit some 
other point along the shore. Of these caiques it is said 
that no fewer than seventy thousand are to be found on the 
waters surrounding the city and its suburbs, and so light 
and graceful are they — so elegantly varnished and cush- 
ioned, and so easily and rapidly propelled— that it is an 
absolute luxury to ride in one of them. 

The ground upon which the old city stands, together 
with its surrounding villages, Pera, Galata, Tophani, and 
Scutari, rises gradually from the water's edge, so that 
whichever way you look you see line after line of houses 
rising gracefully above each other, and on the highest 
point of all a magnificent mosque, or some other public 
building. From this it will readily be understood how 
beautiful the city must look as seen from a distance. We 
say " from a distance," for in this case, as in many others, 
" 'tis distance lends enchantment to the view," as we shall 
have occasion to demonstrate more fully hereafter. 

The peculiar style of architecture adopted by the Turks, 
and generally throughout the East, also adds much to the 
apparent beauty of their cities, towns and villages, as seen 
from a distance. This style — if style it may be called — 
consists of an exuberance of small columns, arches, domes, 
and lattice-work. Instead of a square, angular or pitch- 
ing roof, most of the buildings have a dome, or, in case of 
a very large building, a succession of small domes, which 

are plastered and whitewashed. This style of roofing 

35 * 



416 The Old World — Asia Minor. 



makes most admirable coverings — more lasting, indeed, 
than shingle, slate, or tile, and far more picturesque. These 
domes necessitate, of course, the arch, which is to be seen 
within and without every building of anv considerable size, 
while the column, half-column and lattice-work are added 
as ornaments. 

A closer inspection, however, of the streets and build- 
ings of Constantinople shows that what seemed so enchant- 
ingly beautiful from the deck of the steamer as we approach 
the city is really very common, and in some cases de- 
cidedly ugly when seen near by. To this there are ex- 
ceptions, for while the words common and unclean may 
be applied to the city as a whole, there are within the city 
limits and the suburbs many buildings which in point of 
architectural beauty, and substantial and elaborate finish, 
will compare favorably with the better class of buildings 
in any other of the larger cities of Europe. Of some of 
these we shall have occasion to speak more in detail in 
our next chapter. 

Our vessel anchors in the Bosphorus, about midway 
between Pera and Scutari ; ourselves and baggage are 
taken in a small boat from the steamer to the shore ; the 
ordeal of custom-house examination is gone through with, 
and in due time we find ourselves comfortably installed 
in the Grand Hotel d' Orient, where we will rest for the 
present. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 



ONSTANTINOPLE has long been regarded as one 



V_y of the chief cities of the world, and, in point of 
situation and natural advantages, it is certainly unsur- 
passed by any other. Being the stepping-stone from Asia 
to Europe, and lying midway between the wheat-fields of 
the North and the tropical productions of the South, it 
might, in the hands of an enterprising people, be one of 
the greatest ports of trade in the universe. In the hands 
of the lazy, indolent Turk it can never be more than it is 
at present, except as far as the influx of European enter- 
prise and its permission to do business therein may give 
it commercial importance. 

The commerce of the city now, and indeed much of its 
home trade, are in the hands of foreigners, toward whom 
the Sultan has felt constrained to extend a liberal policy 
in order to increase his own financial resources and con- 
ciliate what are called the " Protecting Powers." 

The present population of Constantinople is said to be 
about one million, of whom about three hundred thou- 
sand are Christians ; all the others are Mohammedans of 
the most bigoted character. 

The Moslems generally occupy the old city — the old 
Byzantium — while the Christians occupy the larger part 




417 



418 The Old World— Asia Minor. 



of Pera and other suburbs of the city. There is no law 
compelling such separation, but upon the well-understood 
principle that " birds of a feather flock together," the 
Moslems keep by themselves and the Christians do the 
same, as far as circumstances admit. It is better thus, 
though such is the rigor of Turkish law, such the prompt- 
ness of punishment following offence, and such the num- 
ber of Turkish soldiers and police in every part of the 
city, that a Christian is now as safe in the streets of Con- 
stantinople as he would be in any city of Europe. The 
" sick man" well understands his precarious condition in 
the family of nations, and he will not permit his subjects 
to molest the subjects of other nationalities so long as he 
is held in wholesome dread by the " powers that be." 

Though we apply the words " lazy, indolent, bigoted." 
etc., to the Turks in some of the above paragraphs — and 
such is really our own opinion of them — still it is only 
fair to say that a few travelers have seen them with differ* 
ent eyes, and have drawn conclusions somewhat different 
from our own. Thus we find Perier saying : 

" The Turk seems born to command ; he pushes his 
confidence in himself to an excess that degenerates into 
the most incredible presumption. In all he does his 
bearing is calm, grave, full of dignity and grandeur. An 
artisan of the lowest grade suddenly elevated to high 
rank will know how to assume instantly the tone and the 
manners suitable to his new position and to make his au- 
thority respected. He will no longer be the man he was 
yesterday — the metamorphosis is complete ; but he does 
not seek to hide the recollection of his former life ; on the 
contrary, he regards it with pride, and generally adds the 
name of his humble trade to the title of his new dignity. 
The good faith of the Turk in his dealings, above all 
with Christians and strangers, is proverbial ; but, possibly, 



Cons tan tinojyle. 



this good faith is in him not so much an inherent virtue 
as an effect of that religious pride that shows itself in all 
his acts. 

" The Turk is too often open to the charge of cruelty and 
bloody violence ; but such acts are commonly the neces- 
sary result of his position with regard to those under his 
rule. His crimes, when his passions are roused, are 
those of the beast of prey — violence, with an object ; they 
are never those of the monkey or the inquisitor ; he never 
does mischief for its own sake or on principle. 

" Covetous of money to the highest degree, he will dis- 
dain to seek it by low and sordid acts, and will sooner 
have recourse to open violence ; but there are occasions 
when the Turk is generous to prodigality. His outward 
demeanor is full of good-breeding and exceedingly win- 
ning and pleasing. It must be owned, however, that 
under this insinuating show he often conceals treachery 
and malignity. There is no people among whom the art 
of dissimulation is carried so far. Nothing more strongly 
illustrates their character in this respect than one of their 
own favorite proverbs : ' Lick the hand thou canst not 
wound ; lick it till thou canst' bite it.' 

" The Arabs, too, have a proverb which they apply to 
the Turks, and which is not less characteristic than the 
former : ' If the Turk turns musk to creep into thy pocket, 
make a hole in that pocket to let him escape before he 
becomes a red-hot coal.' 

" ' In expressing,' says Mr. Urquhart, ' the admiration 
with which the Turkish character inspires me I must re- 
strict that praise entirely to its domestic and passive ex- 
istence — to the Turk as son, husband, father, master, 
neighbor ; whatever qualities he may possess flow from 
these characters. He is brave, because he defends his 
home ; he is docile, because he had a father ; he is not 



420 The Old World — Asia Minor, 

factious, because the unity of the state includes and rep- 
resents that of the family ; he is faithful to treaties, be- 
cause he lives well with his friends. The Turk — agri- 
culturist, seaman, general, mechanic, or professor — is as 
far below other European nations as he is above any of 
them in his domestic virtues or his social integrity. He 
exists therefore, he has a place among nations, only in 
consequence of these, which, again, are not the result of 
principle but of habit ; and of habits, the impress of 
which is derived from the harem.'" 

Of the harem, too, and of the condition of Turkish 
women generally, our own observations and the conclu- 
sions derived therefrom have not been of a favorable 
character ; and yet we find, occasionally, one who has 
traveled in the East speaking of them in terms of high 
admiration. Thus Lamartine says : "Too many travelers 
— speaking of a thing they knew only by vague report — 
have propagated and confirmed the vulgar notion that 
the harem is a dismal prison where lovely women languish 
in captivity under a jealous tyrant — an odious haunt, 
devoted only to brutal, sensual indulgence. This is no 
more worthy of credence than the tales of those other 
travelers who would have us believe that their own enter- 
prising gallantry had triumphed over all the defences of 
the guarded enclosure. The harem is the hearth, the 
home, the one spot on earth which each man calls his 
own, secret and forbidden. It is his wife in whose be- 
half this sanctuary is created ; it exists only in her, and 
wherever she is, there it is also. One thing only mars 
the beautiful constitution of the Eastern home and im- 
pairs its happiness — that is the recognition of polygamy 
as a principle sanctioned by the laws. But, without offer- 
ing any apology for the principle, we may venture to say 
that very exaggerated notions prevail as to the extent to 



I 



Constantinople \ 



421 



which it is really acted on ; and it may even be ques- 
tioned whether the practical polygamy of the West, 
which, unsanctioned by law and reproved by custom, 
adds degradation of the mind to dissoluteness of morals, 
is not a greater evil than the tolerated polygamy of the 
East. 

"Instances are not rare in Mohammedan countries of a 
husband possessing but one wife : in such cases, if there 
be a natural kindness of disposition on either side, it can 
hardly fail to ripen into strong, concentrated, reciprocal 
affection. The retirement and solitude of the harem 
offer nothing to divert the mind from the one absorbing 
passion : the wife's whole business and pleasure are 
centred in her husband and her children, and his eyes do 
not ' wander after strange women.' This domestic hap- 
piness and virtue are, however, not common to all parts 
of the East. Rare, though not unknown, among the 
Arabs, it Jis more peculiarly Turkish ; and the deep root 
which the love of home (not the spot of birth, but the 
hearth, wherever placed) has struck into that people, 
cannot be better demonstrated than by its capacity to 
overcome the effects of the continual introduction, as 
slaves or wives, of perhaps the most dissolute races on 
the face of the earth — the Georgian and the Arab. 

"A Mohammedan woman's property is as secure as 
that of a man : a wife's fortune is her own, and does not, 
as amongst us, become the property of her husband. If 
the latter can divorce his wife, the wife also can divorce 
the husband, and the mother of a son is absolute mis- 
tress : nor is it a trifling prerogative of the sex that the 
servant or the slave can marry the master or his son with- 
out exciting animadversion, or entailing reproach on her 
helpmate or his family. The women are treated by the 
men with a respect they do not always show in return • 



422 



The Old World— Asia Minor. 



and when a woman addresses a man he reverently casts 
his eyes on the ground : nay, the very idea of woman is 
invested with a sanctity that extends to everything belong- 
ing to her. It arrests the arm of justice, and lawless 
violence sinks abashed before it. The wife is independent 
of the political dangers that threaten her husband, except 
as they affect her through him ; her life, her person, her 
property, even her establishment, is sacred and secure. 
There is no instance of a pasha or officer of any descrip- 
tion forcing his way into the hallowed precincts of the 
harem ; there no decree can be executed against the 
master of the house ; he must be summoned elsewhere, 
or waited for till he quits it ; and any criminal condemned 
to death must be pardoned if on his way to execution he 
meets the women of a harem, and can touch the hem of 
the veil worn by one of them, or if he can lay his hand 
on the door of a married woman's dwelling and cry 
Jiardek el harem." 

Having thus presented both sides of these two ques- 
tions — showing that we have no prejudice to subserve, 
and only desire that our readers shall have all the facts, in 
order that they may draw correct conclusions — we will 
now proceed with our narrative. 

The first place at which we call in Constantinople is at 
the American consulate. The office is handsomely fitted 
up, and the consul, Mr. Greenough, is a gentleman of 
high culture, and admirably fitted, we should say, for the 
position he occupies. He is not particularly pleased, 
however, with a residence in Constantinople, and will 
not regret when the time comes for his return to the 
United States. 

We also call upon our Minister Resident, Hon. E. Joy 
Morris, with whom we have a long and pleasant inter- 
view. The conversation is, of course, principally on 



Con s tan tin o-ple . 



home affairs, and we are delighted to learn from his own 
lips, that notwithstanding the innuendoes which have been 
thrown out against him by some portion of the American 
press, because of his reply to Secretary Seward relative 
to the policy of President Johnson, he still adheres to 
Republican principles, in their fullest and broadest sense. 
There is no truer American at home or abroad than E. 
Joy Morris, nor one who takes a more enlightened and 
philanthropic view of our home relations and foreign 
policv. 

We find his estimable lady equally patriotic and agree- 
able as himself, and much regret our inability to accept 
of courtesies which they so kindly and heartily tender us. 

In the way of sight-seeing, our first day's tour com- 
mences with the Mosque of St. Sophia, which stands 
near the Sublime Porte, and which, in our judgment, is 
by far the finest mosque in Constantinople. It has less 
of filagree, or, as we Americans would say, gingerbread 
work, about it than some of the others, but the grand old 
arches and columns which remain of the original Chris- 
tian church give it a massive and imposing appearance 
far superior to any other mosque of the city. 

Its form is that of a Greek cross, two hundred and 
seventy feet in length by two hundred and forty-three in 
width. The centre is surmounted by a large gilded dome, 
one hundred and eighty feet above the floor, while about 
this are eight smaller domes, or semi-domes, and four min- 
arets. Within are one hundred and seventy columns of 
marble, granite, and porphyry, some quite large, others 
smaller, and many of them polished in the highest per- 
fection of art. Most of these columns are said to have 
been brought from the ruins of temples at Baalbec, Heli- 
opolis, Ephesus, Cyclades, and Athens. 

This edifice was commenced by the Emperor Justinian, 

36 



The Old World — Asia Minor. 



A. D. 531, and was seven and a half years in building. 
Its cost is said to have been fabulous, and we can well 
believe it, from the kind and quantity of material used. 
It was used as a Christian church until the Mohammed- 
ans got possession of the country, who converted it into a 
mosque. The alterations and additions made by the 
Moslems are easily traceable, and, in our judgment, 
greatly detract from the original beauty of the edifice. 
The gilding of the cupola is now greatly tarnished, but, 
when new and bright, it could be seen, it is said, a hun- 
dred miles at sea. 

To enter this mosque requires a firman from the Sultan 
or some bucksheesh for the attendants. We adopt the 
latter, and by placing a couple of silver dollars in the 
hands of the turbaned official who meets us at the door, 
we are readily admitted and treated with distinguished 
consideration. 

Next we visit the Mosque of Sultan Achmed, which 
covers a larger area than St. Sophia. It has two more 
minarets, but is not to be compared with the latter either 
in style, finish, or grandeur. While examining this 
mosque some of the attendants become very insolent, and 
one of them pushes others against us because of our re- 
fusal to take off our shoes before stepping on the matting 
in the passage-way, whereupon we break our cane over 
the head of one of them, and then report the matter to the 
police for such further action as they might think proper 
to take. We don't think the attendants at that mosque 
will again interfere with a foreign visitor — especially if 
he be an American. 

Near this mosque is the Hippodrome, a square nine 
hundred feet in length by four hundred and fifty in width, 
which contains the granite obelisk from Thebes, set up 
by Theodosius the Great ; a spiral brass column, consist- 



Cons tan tin oj)le. 



ing of three serpents twisted together, which originally 
supported the golden tripod in the temple of Delphi ; and 
the tall, square pillar of Constantine, which was stripped 
of its bronze casings by the Turks when they first cap- 
tured the city. On one side of this square formerly stood 
the Roman imperial palace, the senate house, and the 
forum, all of which have been so changed and mutilated 
that nothing of their original beauty remains. 

It is plain to be seen that the Turks have no respect for 
ancient monuments, and, judging from the neglect shown 
to those in the Hippodrome, it will not be long before 
every vestige of the ancient greatness of the city will be 
obliterated. 

Our next visit is to what is called the "Janizaries," 
which we find to be a museum of wax-figures, represent- 
ing every condition of Turkish life, from the water-carrier 
and knife-grinder to the soldier and sultan. The features 
as well as the dress of the most celebrated Turkish 
soldiers and rulers are here carefully preserved, which 
makes the museum of great interest to one who may wish 
to study the manners and customs of the earlier followers 
of the Prophet. This museum is under the care of the 
government, and a small fee is charged for admission. 

Next we visit what is called the " Thousand-and-one- 
Columns," to reach which we entered a small doorway, 
near the surface, and make a descent of some thirty feet 
under ground. Here we find five hundred double col- 
umns — one upon the top of the other — and one single 
column, making the required number of one thousand 
and one. These columns are about two feet in diameter, 
and the two together measure probably forty feet in 
height. They cover a considerable area, the space be- 
tween each column being from eight to ten feet. About 
two-thirds of the lower half of these columns — or rather 



426 The Old Woi-ld — Asia Minor, 



the lower of the two columns — are now under ground, the 
earth having fallen in about them before the place was 
covered over. W e find several workmen in this under- 
ground cavern making ropes — using the space between 
the columns as their rope-walk. 

At the time of the Roman occupancy of Constantinople 
this was used as an immense reservoir for water, and 
must have been a place of great beauty as well as of 
utility. The waters of the Sea of Marmora, and indeed 
all the waters surrounding Constantinople, are very brack- 
ish, and this immense reservoir of fresh water was deemed 
essential to the citizens in case of a siege. 

Next we visit the Mosque of Mohammed II., than 
which there is no more beautiful edifice in Constantino- 
ple. It is built of white marble, of circular shape, sur- 
mounted by a dome, and from one side of it runs a col- 
onnade, on the other side of which is the street, and on 
the inside a well-cultivated garden. Neither in architect- 
ure nor embellishment is there anything of Orientalism 
about it. 

Within it are the tombs of the sultan, of his mother, 
and of his several wives, all of which are covered with 
rich Cashmere shawls, and embellished with Turkish de- 
signs in gold and silver. Around the room are stools in- 
laid with ivory, and on each of these lies the Koran, or 
some other Moslem volume, bound magnificently. The 
floor is covered with a Persian carpet of the most deli- 
cate texture, the window-hangings are of black silk 
velvet, gorgeously embroidered with silver thread, and over 
these hang white lace curtains of the most costly material 
and workmanship. Both externally and internally this 
mosque or tomb of Mohammed II. is far handsomer than 
anything else of the kind we have seen in all the East. 

This mosque occupies the exact site formerly occupied 



Constantinople. 427 

by the Church of the Holy Apostles, which church Mo- 
hammed II. had torn down in order to erect thereon the 
edifice which now bears his name. Whether he sleeps 
well or ill after so great a sacrilege, we leave with others 
to judge. 

Thus closes our first day's sight-seeing in Constantino- 
ple, and We now return to our hotel to rest and recup- 
erate, for here, as elsewhere, sight-seeing is the hardest 
kind of work. 

On the day following we resolve to finish, if possible, 
the remaining mosques and other public buildings of in- 
terest within the city, and to this end we make an early 
start. 

Crossing the bay in a light canoe, from Pera to the 
outer point of the peninsula, we land near the Seraglio, 
which we essay to enter, but as some repairs are being 
made, no strangers are permitted within the grounds. 
We afterward, however, have a fine view of the old pal- 
ace and grounds from Scutari, on the opposite side of the 
Bosphorus. Since the death of the present sultan's 
father the Seraglio is no longer used as an imperial resi- 
dence, and it is fast going to ruin. It has no occupants 
at present except the wives or concubines of the late 
sultan, to whom it would be death if they were to show 
their faces to a Christian of the male sex. 

The " Sublime Porte," which we next inspect, of which 
everybody has heard or read, and from which the sultans 
of Turkey take one of their official titles, is nothing more 
than an immense gateway leading from the city to a large 
open square near the Seraglio. It is also near the mosque 
of St. Sophia, and from it, on either side, is a block of 
buildings used for governmental purposes. It does, 
indeed, possess a certain kind or degree of sublimity, 
but, as compared with many others of like character 
36 * 



428 The Old World — Asia Minor. 



throughout Europe, it would hardly excite a second 
glance. 

Again, passing the mosques of St. Sophia, Achmed, 
Mohammed, the Hippodrome and its columns, and 
spending a little time at the last for another inspection, 
we finally reach what is now called the " Burnt Pillar," 
so named because of its having been blackened by re- 
peated conflagrations around it, but which was originally 
known as the Pillar of Constantine the Great, as it was 
erected by him, and was intended to commemorate and 
perpetuate his fame as emperor of Rome and its prov- 
inces. 

This column was originally one hundred and twenty 
feet in height and surmounted by a colossal bronze statue 
of Apollo, but the earthquake which visited Constantino- 
ple in A. D. 1 150 shook down the statue and three 
blocks of the column, leaving its present height onlv 
ninety feet. Like the ancient monuments in the Hippo- 
drome, this column is wholly neglected, and will probably 
soon be among the things that were. 

Next we proceed to what is known as the " Pigeon 
Mosque," because of the great number of pigeons there 
kept and fed by the devout followers of the Prophet. 
There is nothing in the mosque itself worth y of descrip- 
tion, but it is indeed curious to see the hundreds — we 
were about to write thousands, as they seemed innumerable 
— of pigeons flying about the inner court and feeding 
from the hands of the attendants. These pigeons are 
considered sacred, and woe be to the man who dares to 
harm one of them. 

Our next visit is to the "Mosque of Suleiman the 
Magnificent," which is regarded by some as the most 
beautiful in Constantinople, but which we think far in- 
ferior to that of St. Sophia. It has indeed far more or- 



Con stan tin oj>le. 



nament than the latter — if Turkish filagree-work can be 
regarded as ornament at all — but it lacks the finely pol- 
ished columns which give to the latter so grand and im- 
posing an appearance. The Mosque of Suleiman is 
Turkish all over — Turkish without and Turkish within 
— and is probably the best specimen of their architecture 
and style to be found anywhere in the East. Its builder, 
Sultan Suleiman, designed it to be the " glory of the 
whole earth," and expended, it is said, vast sums of 
money upon it, but, unfortunately for his reputation as a 
designer and builder, he had not seen the splendid cathe- 
drals of Europe, or else he had a vain-glorious opinion of 
his own taste and judgment. 

His tomb is near the mosque, in a small circular build- 
ing surmounted by a dome, and elaborately finished 
within. In the same building are the tombs of his several 
wives and children, all covered with rich Cashmere 
shawls," and surmounted with gold and silver trimmings. 
Here, too, may be seen a plan of the city and temple of 
Mecca, elaborately carved in wood. Perhaps the Sultan 
thought that by having a plan of the Prophet's tomb so 
near his own it would the more certainly secure him a 
place in the Mohammedan Paradise. 

The balance of the day we spend in the bazaars of the 
old city, which in extent and arrangement are far superior 
to those of Damascus and Cairo. Here is one long street 
entirely devoted to ladies' wearing apparel, in which 
ever} 7 thing of the kind may be^ found, from the cheapest 
printed muslin to the most elegant India silks and shawls ; 
there is another entirely devoted to meerschaums and 
amber mouthpieces ; another devoted to jewelry, of 
which each crosslegged shopkeeper has about as much 
as you could carry in your vest pocket, though some of 
the articles glitter with diamonds and are of great value : 



430 The Old World — Asia Minor. 

another devoted to shoes and slippers of every conceiv- 
able shape, size, and quality ; another to tarbouches ; an- 
other to robes of ermine and fur, and so on throughout 
the list. 

Thus another day closes, and here we will close this 
chapter, leaving for another a description of what else we 
may see during our stay at Constantinople. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



CLOSING SIGHTS. 

OUR stay in Constantinople continues for seven days, 
during all of which time we are constantly engaged 
in seeing and learning what is to be seen and learned in 
this far-famed city of the East. 

Of the first two days of sight-seeing in Constantinople we 
have already spoken in a former chapter. As in this we 
intend to include all else that we may have to say of this 
city, we shall not attempt to give each day's sight-seeing 
separately ; but will describe each object and incident as 
it may occur to our mind while writing. 

On Sunday we attend two services of a very diverse 
character. In the forenoon we go to the Episcopal chapel 
attached to the English embassy, and hear a sound, prac- 
tical sermon from the lips of the rector. Every seat of 
the chapel is filled — mostly by English residents of the 
city — and the services are conducted in the usual form, 
greatly to the spiritual edification and pleasure of all 
present. Lord Lyons, who formerly resided at Wash- 
ington, and was for many years Minister Plenipotentiary 
from Great Britain to the United States, is now filling a 
like capacity at Constantinople, though we learn while 
here that he is soon to return to England. His official 
residence — built and maintained by the government — is 



432 The Old World — Asia Minor. 

one of the finest buildings in the city, having large and 
well-cultivated grounds, and a chapel attached thereto, as 
before stated. 

We recollect well our first meeting with Lord Lyons, 
and the impression he then made upon us. It was at a 
party given by Mr. Seward, at his family residence in 
Washington. Just before sitting down to the table, Lord 
Lyons came in, and from the dress which he wore we at 
once set him down as an English clergyman, and were 
not undeceived until Mr. Seward introduced him to the 
company. We have never since heard the name of Lord 
Lyons or saw it in print without having our mind imme- 
diately recur to the mistake we made on first seeing 
him. 

But we have thoughtlessly digressed from the subject- 
matter in hand, and must now return to a description of 
sight-seeing in and about Constantinople. 

On the afternoon of the same Sabbath we attend a 
meeting of the " Whirling Dervishes," than which there 
is no more curious sight in Constantinople, though all 
they do is done in the name of religious worship. These 
dervishes are a sect of Mohammedans, who claim to 
have more zeal, more devotedness, and far more sanctity 
than their fellow-religionists. They hold about the same 
relation to Mohammedanism as monks do to Catholicism. 

Their mosque is fitted up much in the usual style, 
except that in the centre of the main building, imme- 
diately under the dome, is a circular space of about thirty 
feet in diameter, around which is a railing about three 
feet high, and in which, or on which, they dance or whirl 
during their religious exercises. 

A wide gallery surrounds the building, a portion of 
which is filled up with close lattice-work for the accom- 
modation of the Turkish women who wish to see and 



Closing Sights. 



433 



dare not be seen ; and another portion for the musicians, 
both vocal and instrumental. This music is quite as sin- 
gular as the other parts of the performance. Seven men 
blow upon reed pipes, which make a squeaking, con- 
tinuous sound ; two others beat the tambourine ; two others 
beat kettle-head drums ; and one leads with his voice, the 
others joining in at certain intervals. The kind of music 
which all this makes can easier be imagined than de- 
scribed. 

Soon after we enter, the dervishes, dressed in long 
flowing robes of different colors, with coarse woolen caps 
about twelve inches high, without rims, begin to march 
in and take their places in the inner circle. The leader 
stands at one side of the circle near the altar, and the 
other eighteen range themselves around the circle. 

First, they walk slowly around the circle, each one 
bowing to the superior as he passes him. The music 
then commences a more lively strain, and again they 
begin to walk slowly around, but each one after bowing 
to and passing beyond the superior, commences to whirl 
around until the whole of the seventeen are in motion — 
the superior in the mean time standing still and intently 
gazing at the performance. 

From a slow whirl they increase to a faster one, until 
some of them seem to fairly spin like a top. Their feet 
cannot be seen, as their long robes reach almost to the 
floor, and make an air balloon around each one as he 
whirls. The eyes of all are closed while whirling, and 
each one seems to be devoutly praying to the Prophet. 
Why they do not fall from dizziness is the wonder to us. 

After whirling thus for some time, one after another 
stops, and each takes his place in the circle near the 
railing. 

After resting a while (the superior in the mean while 



434 The Old World — Asia Minor. 



uttering a sing-song prayer) they again commence to march 
around and to whirl, and this they repeat three times. 
When the last whirl ceases, and each of the performers 
has kissed the hand of the superior, all march out in the 
order in which they entered, and thus the services end. 

The best account we have anywhere seen of the der- 
vishes is given in Mr. Lane's "Modern Egyptians" and, 
to make more complete what we have already said of 
these strange religionists, we beg to make a short extract 
from Mr. Lane's book. 

He says : " It is impossible to become acquainted with 
all the tenets, rules, and ceremonies of the dervishes, as 
many of them, like those of the Freemasons, are not to 
be divulged to the uninitiated. A dervish with whom I 
am acquainted thus described to me his taking the ' 'ahd,' 
or initiatory covenant, which is nearly the same in all the 
orders. He was admitted by the sheikh of the Demirda- 
sheeyeh. Having first performed the ablution preparatory 
to prayer (thewudo6), he seated himself upon the ground 
before the sheikh, who was seated in like manner. The 
sheikh and he (the ' mureed,' or candidate) then clasped 
their right hands together, as practiced in the marriage 
contract ; in this attitude, and with their hands covered by 
the sleeve of the sheikh, the candidate took the covenant, 
repeating after the sheikh the following words, commen- 
cing with the form of a common oath of repentance : ' I 
beg forgiveness of God, the Great,' (three times) ; ' than 
whom there is no other deity ; the Living, the Everlasting ; 
I turn to him with repentance, and beg his grace, and for- 
giveness, and exemption from the fire.' The sheikh then 
said to him, ' Dost thou turn to God with repentance ?' 
He replied, ' I do turn to God with repentance ; and I re- 
turn unto God ; and I am grieved for what I have done 
[amiss] ; and I determine not to relapse ;' and then re- 



Closing Sights. 



435 



peated after the sheikh, ' I beg for the favor of God, the 
great and the noble Prophet ; and I take as my sheikh, 
and my guide unto God (whose name be exalted), my 
master 'Abd-Er-Raheem Ed-Demirdashee El-Khalwetee 
Er-Rifa'ee En-Nebawee ; not to change, nor to separate ; 
and God is our witness, by God, the great !' (this oath 
was repeated three times) ; ' there is no deity but God' 
(this also was repeated three times). The sheikh and the 
mureed then recited the Fat'hah together ; and the latter 
concluded the ceremony by kissing the sheikh V hand. 

" The religious exercises of the dervishes chiefly consist 
in the performance of ' zikrs.' Sometimes standing in the 
form of a circular or an oblong ring, or in two rows, facing 
each other, and sometimes sitting, they exclaim, or chant, 
' La ilaha illa-llah' (There is no deity but God), or 'Allah ! 
Allah ! Allah !' (God ! God ! God !), or repeat other invo- 
cations, etc., over and over again, until their strength is 
almost exhausted, accompanying their ejaculations or 
chants with a motion of the head, or of the whole body, or 
of the arms. From long habit they are able to continue 
these exercises for a surprising length of time without in- 
termission. They are often accompanied at intervals by 
one or more players upon a kind of flute called ' nay,' or a 
double reed-pipe, called ' arghool,' and by persons singing 
religious odes ; and some dervishes use a little drum, 
called 'baz,' or a tambourine, during their zikrs ; some also 
perform a peculiar dance." 

" Some of the rites of dervishes (as forms of prayer, etc.) 

are observed only by particular orders. Among the latter 

may be mentioned the rites of the ' Khalwetees' and ' Sha- 

zilees,' each of which has its sheikh. Sometimes a Khal- 

wetee enters a solitary cell, and remains in it for forty days 

and nights, fasting from daybreak till sunset the whole of 

this period." 
37 



436 The Old World — Asia Minor. 



On another day we visit the Sultan's palace and mosque 
on the Bosphorus, and the numerous barracks for soldiers 
in that part of the city. The palace is not very large, but 
the finish of it externally (and so far as we could see it also 
internally) is most beautiful. The grounds about it are 
small, though cultivated with great care, and containing 
flowers and trees of great beauty. The best view of the 
palace is from the water. We take a small boat and are 
rowed along the entire front, thus getting a closer and a 
better view of its elaborate workmanship than from any 
other point. 

The Sultan's mosque, near the palace, is handsome, 
though not so large or grand as either St. Sophia or Sulei- 
man. 

There are several barracks for soldiers in this part of 
the city, all of which are large, and several are finished 
off in grand style. Several thousand soldiers are con- 
stantly lodged in these barracks and kept ready for any 
emergency. 

The public gardens, of which there are several in this 
part of the city, are fitted up with some degree of taste, and 
at night and upon holidays they have music for the grati- 
fication of the thousands who throng them ; but they are 
so far inferior to those of Paris and other European cities, 
that to one who has seen the latter they present no attrac- 
tion whatever. 

At another time we visit Scutari, on the Asiatic side of 
the Bosphorus, and spend nearly a whole day in wander- 
ing through the streets of the old town, visiting the im- 
mense cemeteries near it, and the large hospital where 
Florence Nightingale reigned supreme during a portion of 
the time of the Crimean war. 

Scutari is regarded as a suburb of Constantinople, 
though nearly a x mile off across the waters, and really in 



Closing Sights. 



437 



a different quarter of the globe, it being in Asia, while 
Constantinople, being on the west side of the Bospho- 
rus, is in Europe. The town is very old, its streets nar- 
row and dirty, its houses curiously constructed and purely 
Asiatic, while from the town branch off the great roads 
which lead from the capital to the Asiatic provinces of 
the empire. Near by the town are immense cemeteries, 
every square foot of which seems to be covered with graves. 
The tall cypress trees, with which all Turkish burial- 
places abound, add much to the beauty of the grounds. 

Standing on the high bluffs near Scutari, we have a 
superb view of Constantinople and its surroundings. 
Before us lies the Seraglio, the walls of which we over- 
look and have a fine view of the grounds and old palace ; 
starting out from the Bosphorus we see the " Golden 
Horn" running up between the old city and Pera, while 
in it are anchored hundreds of vessels-^ and on its surface 
glide hundreds, if not thousands, of caiques ; turning 
westward we see the Bosphorus stretching out toward 
the Black Sea, while palaces and beautiful residences 
seem to arise from the water on either side ; turning 
southward, we have the sea of Marmora before us in all 
its glorious beauty. A visit to Scutari well repays the 
traveler, if for nothing else than to see and study the 
geographical situation of Constantinople and its sur- 
roundings. 

At another time we take a small boat and are rowed 
the entire length of the Golden Horn, up to the Sultan's 
summer palace called " Sweet Waters," a distance of 
about six miles from the city. This is one of our most 
pleasant excursions, for as we row along we have a 
splendid view of the old city and its suburbs on either 
side of the Horn ; of the immense buildings along the 
shores, devoted to marine purposes ; of the ships of war 



438 The Old World— Asia Minor. 



lying in the harbor, several of which are old-fashioned 
"three-deckers ;" and, better still, we have a capital view 
of the Sultan himself, as he is rowed by us in his gilded 
caique with ten oarsmen. A boat precedes his with an 
officer standing in front crying out to every one, " Clear 
the way ! clear the way !" or something to that effect, but 
as we are foreigners, and have no fear of the mighty 
mogul before our eyes, we do not move much out of our 
track, and thereby have a better view of the Sultan. 

As he passes the public buildings and ships of war, 
flags are run up and the yardarms are manned with 
sailors, all of whom cheer heartily as the Sultan passes. 

He looks to be a man of about forty years of age, full 
face, heavily built, and has rather a pleasant face, though 
we subsequently learn from others that he is very stem 
and overbearing, especially to his own people. When 
we meet him he is on his way from his summer to his 
city palace, at both of which he keeps up a full house- 
hold, with plenty of "wives" or concubines. 

Proceeding onward, we reach the palace of Sweet 
Waters about noon, and remain there until five o'clock. 

This palace is delightfully situated, upon a branch or 
arm of the Golden Horn, and can be reached from the 
city by either boat or carriage in about one hour. On 
either side of the waters leading to it, lamps are hung on 
posts near the edge of the stream, which lamps are prob- 
ably one hundred yards or less apart, and when lighted 
at night must present a beautiful and fairy-like appear- 
ance. Along the edge of this stream on both sides, ex- 
tending for a half a mile or more below the palace, tents 
and booths are erected — some of which are for the use of 
soldiers, and others serve as restaurants and lolling-places 
for the thousands who come out here on pic-nic and other 
occasions. Music of all sorts abounds, and we can 



Closing Sights. 



439 



scarcely move a yard about the grounds without meeting 
with a strolling musician, with reed-pipe, violin, tom-tom, 
or some other instrument in hand. 

The palace buildings are not very extensive nor very 
fine, either in architecture or finish, but they look exceed- 
ing comfortable. Turkish soldiers are at every gateway 
and upon every walk, and woe be to the poor Moslem 
who happens to transgress any of the regulations of the 
palace grounds ! 

While walking near the palace we notice a movement 
at one of the windows, and, looking up, observe two 
pairs of sparkling eyes peering at us through the lattice- 
work. They seem interested in looking at the " Frank," 
and we, of course, cannot but return the compliment (or 
curiosity) by continuing to look toward the window. 
Pretty soon they lift their heads above the lattice- work, 
when we have a full and fair view of two of the " houris" 
of the Sultan. They are as beautiful as pictures, and 
seem fully to appreciate the fact. What would be done 
with them were it known that they have dared to show 
their faces to a "Frank," we leave with others to imagine. 
But when or where on all the earth was there a pretty 
woman who would not run the risk of imprisonment or 
the bastinado, or even of death itself, for the sake of 
being admired, even though it were but for a moment ? 

There are all sorts of amusements or diversions con- 
stantly to be met with in the streets of Constantinople. 
Some are leading around immense bears, which they train 
to perform certain gymnastic tricks ; others have monkeys 
dressed up fantastically, which are taught to do all sorts of 
funny things, and for which they expect pennies in return ; 
but the diversion most unique and characteristic of the 
people is the telling or repeating of the "Arabian Nights 
Tales" in the coffee-shops. In passing by the door of 
37 * 



44-0 The Old World — Asia Minor. 



one of the coffee-shops we notice a man standing in the 
centre of the room, telling a tale, while around him sit a 
score or more of listeners eagerly drinking in every word 
he utters, and occasionally bursting out in a roar of un- 
controllable laughter. There is, we believe, one theatre 
in the city, which, however, is mainly patronized by 
foreigners, as no true follower of the Prophet would think 
of entering such a place. 

How we shop in the bazaars of the city — buying Turk- 
ish tarbouches at one place, embroidered velvet slippers 
at another, amber mouth-pieces at another, gorgeously 
embroidered table-cloths at another, etc., etc. — is of interest 
to us, and gives us considerable insight into the manners 
and customs of the Turkish merchant, but we shall not 
trouble our readers with repeating our experiences, since, 
in matters of this kind, each traveler must have an experi- 
ence peculiarly his own, and if he is occasionally over- 
reached by the wily Turk, it will teach him wisdom for 
the future. 

At last the hour arrives for our leaving Constantinople. 
We have seen, as we think, all that is worthy of a trav- 
eler's attention, and have learned all that we can from 
such a people, and now are ready to depart. 

We engage passage on an Austrian steamer for Varna, 
and at four o'clock of the afternoon of the 17th of May 
start from Pera with the prow of our steamer turned 
toward the Black Sea. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR, AND PECULIARITIES OF, 
EASTERN TRAVEL. 

BEFORE closing this volume on Palestine, Syria, and 
Asia Minor, we think it best — indeed we feel it to be 
a duty — to give some general directions for such as may 
contemplate a visit thither ; and, in this connection, we 
may be permitted to add, or intersperse, something with 
regard to the peculiarities of Eastern travel. 

Notwithstanding the great number of persons who an- 
nually visit Syria — amounting this year to more than two 
hundred Americans alone, besides those of other nation- 
alities — and notwithstanding the great number of books 
of travel and guide-books accessible to the traveler, still 
the great majority of tourists enter upon the trip without 
any well-defined notions of the difficulties they must en- 
counter and of the objects they desire to see. 

In taking a retrospective view of our own trip we can 
see how many annoyances and expenses might have been 
avoided had we known in advance just what to expect, 
and how to adapt ourselves to surrounding circumstances, 
and to save others from like annoyances shall be the ob- 
ject of the present chapter. 

Presuming you have finished your Egyptian tour and 
are now in Cairo, our first advice is not to re-employ your 

441 



442 



The Old World. 



Egyptian dragoman, or any other Egyptian or Moslem 
as your dragoman through Syria. 

On the Nile, a native of the country and a Moslem is 
indispensable, since he best understands the country and 
the social and religious customs of the people ; but in 
Syria a Moslem understands neither the routes nor the 
people so well as a native Syrian ; and having no faith in 
Christianity or religious enthusiasm to excite inquiry, he 
neither cares nor knows anything about holy places. 
Christian dragomen, on the contrary — of whom plenty are 
to be had in Jerusalem and Beyrout — know not only the 
location but the history connected with every holy place, 
and they take special pains to point out and explain every 
point of interest to the Christian traveler. The very great 
advantage of having a Christian dragoman will only be 
fully understood after one has suffered as we have from a 
know-nothing, infidel, insolent Moslem, to whom we were 
obliged to give a flogging at Jerusalem — as related here- 
tofore — and frequent threatenings of caning elsewhere, to 
keep in reasonable subjection. 

You will be told in Cairo how many difficulties are to 
be met with in traveling from that city to Jaffa, especially 
in getting on the steamer at Alexandria, and off the steamer 
at Jaffa ; and then the still further difficulty in getting from 
Jaffa to Jerusalem, how tents are to be pitched, provis- 
ions procured, mules and horses hired, etc., etc. ; but all 
this is the merest bosh, since any traveler of ordinary 
capacity (with or without ladies) can now travel from 
Cairo to Jaffa, or Beyrout, or Jerusalem quite as well with- 
out a dragoman, and quite as well without tents as with 
them. Hence there is no necessity whatever of provid- 
ing yourself with either a dragoman or tents at Cairo, 
and the amount you will thus save will be quite consid- 
erable, as you must not only pay the wages, but all the 



Eastern Travel. 



443 



expenses of your dragoman, in going to and returning 
from Syria. 

In starting from Cairo, you have only to procure your 
railroad tickets, take your seat in the car, and in about six 
hours' time, without change of cars, you are landed at the 
Alexandria depot. Here you will find runners from the 
hotels who speak English, and who will see to the safe 
arrival of yourself and baggage at the hotel, either by car- 
riage or omnibus. 

At all the larger hotels they have porters, or waiters, 
who can speak English, and hence you will find no diffi- 
culty in getting along while at Alexandria. 

When you are ready to start for Syria, you have only to 
procure your ticket at the steamer office, and for a few 
francs you can get an Egyptian boatman to put you and 
your baggage on board. 

Once on board, you have no further trouble until you 
reach Jaffa or Beyrout. So soon as the steamer anchors 
in the harbor a score or more of small boats will come 
from the shore to take passengers and baggage off, and 
for a little while a perfect Babel ensues — one offering to 
take you on shore for five dollars, another for two, another 
for something less, and so on. But keep cool and abide 
your time ; the steamer will remain at anchor for several 
hours, and there is no need of hurry ; and when the rush 
is over, offer some fellow one dollar, or even less, and he 
will take you and your baggage on shore and be thankful 
for the opportunity. The dragomen at Cairo generally 
represent the cost of landing at Jaffa to be one English 
pound (with terrible difficulties in the way even at that), 
and, if they can, they will slyly pocket the difference be- 
tween what they actually pay the boatman and the pound 
sterling which you give them to pay with. 

If you go on to Beyrout, the same impositions will be 



444 



The Old World. 



attempted upon you in landing ; but they can be overcome 
there in the same way as we have advised in the case of 
Jaffa. 

At Jaffa they now have a passably good hotel and a 
large Latin convent, at either of which travelers can find 
accommodations — not the best, but such as will answer 
very well for a single night. At Beyrout there are good 
hotels (" Belle-View" the best) at which travelers will find 
ample accommodations. 

The hotel-keeper, or our consular agent at Jaffa, can 
procure for you horses to ride, and mules to carry your 
baggage, as far as Jerusalem, at a cost of from two to three 
dollars for each horse and mule. There are always (in 
the season) plenty of horses and mules to hire at Jaffa, 
some of which come down from Jerusalem and others 
from Damascus, awaiting the arrival of travelers. If you 
look after the matter yourself, you can select better horses, 
and get them at lower terms, than if you depend upon an 
agent or dragoman. 

By starting from Jaffa in the morning you can reach 
Jerusalem in the evening ; or, if you decide to visit the 
ruins at Lydd and stop the first night at Ramlah, you can 
leave Jaffa at from ten to twelve o'clock, and reach Ram- 
lah at sundown. Here is an excellent Latin convent, the 
doors of which are always open to travelers, and the 
charges are whatever you choose to give — usually about 
one dollar for each person. 

On reaching Jerusalem you will find hotels and several 
boarding-houses, at which you can obtain accommodations 
of a passable character ; or, if you prefer to stop at a con- 
vent, by applying to the American consul you can get a 
letter of recommendation and request, which will admit 
you. The charges at the first-class hotels are from 
two to three dollars per day, while at the convents you pay 



Eastern Travel. 



445 



whatever your inclination and generosity prompt you to 
give. 

At Jerusalem — if you have not done so before — you will, 
of course, have to employ a dragoman or guide, since it 
would be very difficult, if not impossible, for one unac- 
quainted with the language or customs of the people, to 
travel through Syria without an interpreter and guide. In 
this you have the choice of two plans, each of which has 
its advantages and disadvantages. 

Fir|t, you can make an arrangement with a dragoman 
to furnish horses, mules, tents, cooking utensils, and every 
necessary article, and to take you over the entire route at 
so much per day. The usual charge is from five to ten 
dollars per day for each person, depending upon the num- 
ber of persons in the party and the kind of accommoda- 
tions you require. This is the most expensive but the 
least troublesome of the two plans, as in this case the 
dragoman pays all expenses and takes the entire respon- 
sibility of the trip — you going along with him as a passen- 
ger and paying him at the end of the journey, or in ad- 
vance, as may be agreed upon. 

The disadvantages of this plan are, that if you chance 
to get a bad, worthless dragoman — one who is disposed to 
be insolent and overbearing, taking every opportunity to 
make all the money out of you he can, irrespective of your 
own comforts — your trip will be anything but pleasant, and 
the contract being made, you have no means of getting 
rid of him except at a great sacrifice, as the rulings of 
consuls, in case of dispute, are always according to the 
strict letter of the contract. 

While in Syria we heard of a party who were required 
to sacrifice two hundred dollars to get rid of a worthless 
dragoman whom they had employed for a certain number 
of days at a certain price ; and whether they continued 



44 6 



The Old World. 



with him or not, they were required to pay the full 
amount of the contract. 

And this reminds us to say, that in making your 
contract with a dragoman, whether at Jerusalem or 
elsewhere, be exceedingly careful to have every item 
particularly specified. Have him bound to give you good 
horses and good mules, and furnish others on the way in 
case of sickness, lameness, or death ; to secure good 
water-proof tents and iron bedsteads, with plenty of bed- 
clothing ; to provide good food and plenty of it ; to stop 
whenever and wherever you may direct, and to remain or 
go at your pleasure ; to visit such points, and such only, 
as you may choose, and always to go by the most 
practicable routes ; to pay all guides and bucksheesh on 
the way ; and, if possible, have it inserted in the contract 
that in case he fails to perform any one of the covenants, 
the amount of damage to you accruing therefrom shall 
be deducted from the amount of the contract at the end 
of the journey ; or that you can dismiss him at any point 
on the route. Of course every dragoman will object to 
such a provision in the contract, but if he means to be 
honest and to treat you fairly, and you insist upon it, you 
can have it inserted, and with such a rod constantly over 
his head, your chances of good treatment will be greatly 
increased. You cannot bind these fellows up too strongly, 
and it is only by having them know that you have the 
power of withholding their pay or dismissing them at 
pleasure, that you can hope for such treatment as is due 
you for the price you give. 

The other plan is to purchase your own tents and outfit 
entire, hire your own horses and mules by the day ; your 
dragoman, cook, and servants by the week or month ; 
direct the purchasing of your own provisions, and pay 
for them at the time of purchase ; in a word, to be your 



Eastern Travel. 



447 



own transporting agent from first to last, and pay from 
day to day whatever maybe the actual expenses. This 
plan is more troublesome and involves greater responsi- 
bility than the other, but leaves you master of the situa- 
tion all the while. It enables you to hire or dismiss ; go 
or stay ; live luxuriously or plainly, at pleasure. When 
you reach the end of your journey, you sell your tents 
and outfit for whatever you can get — probably for one- 
fourth of what they have cost you, but the saving which 
you make in the trip as compared with what you would 
have had to pay a dragoman, will doubly and trebly com- 
pensate the loss you may suffer on the sale. 

We adopted the latter of the two plans — commencing 
(by mistake) at Cairo and ending at Beyrout- — and with 
our business habits of life we find the care which this 
plan involves rather pleasant than otherwise ; though we 
can well understand that to one of less active business 
habits, and whose chief study is how to get along the 
easiest through the world, the other plan would be far 
preferable. 

There is, indeed, a third plan occasionally adopted by 
gentlemen who are traveling without ladies or children, 
and who wish to make the trip in the most economical 
manner, which is to hire a muleteer who can speak some 
English, who will act as your guide and interpreter, fur- 
nish the horses and mules necessary to carry yourselves and 
your baggage ; direct you to the hotels, convents, private 
houses, and mills in which to sleep on the way ; purchase the 
provisions for your noon lunches, and, if he knows how, do 
the cooking of your morning and evening meals ; and, in 
every respect, to be your man of " all work." In this 
arrangement no tents, cooking utensils, or aught else, save 
your own carpet-bag, valise, or trunk, is carried along. 

We met, while in Syria, two single gentlemen who 
38 



448 



The Old World. 



were roughing it in this way, and both informed us that 
while their accommodations occasionally were pretty 
hard, most of the time they got along very comfortably. 
In nearly all the stopping-places through Syria there are 
convents, and, in the larger places, hotels where passable 
accommodations (barring the fleas and other vermin) can 
be obtained. A trip through Syria can be made in this 
way by a single man at a very small cost, and, while we 
would not recommend it, we can readily understand its 
possibility, without any serious detriment to health or 
comfort. 

Of the many dragomen we met at Jerusalem, the one 
with whom we were most favorably impressed, and whom 
we would most cordially recommend to others, is Jacob 
Hishmeh. He 4s a Syrian, and thoroughly understands 
every route and place of interest throughout Palestine, 
and, better still, he is a Christian — educated in the mis- 
sion school in Jerusalem — and takes pains and pleasure 
in explaining every point of special interest to the Chris- 
tian traveler. He accompanied our friends, Rev. Mr. 
and Mrs. Appleton, in their tour through Syria, and we 
should have employed him ourselves had we not already 
engaged one at Cairo. 

The dragoman who best pleased us at Beyrout was 
Pietro Paulicluavech, whose residence is at the Hotel 
Belle-View, though a native of Southern Europe. He was 
the dragoman of a party of Americans with whom we 
traveled in company for many days in Syria, and we were 
pleased at the pains he seemed to take to secure their 
comfort. 

We mention these two, not to the exclusion of all others, 
as there may be in both cities many worthy of confidence, 
though our own experience, and that of many other travel- 
ers with whom we conversed on the way, prove that those 



Eastern Travel. 



449 



in whom entire confidence can be placed are " very few 
and far between." 

All that we have said in reference to starting from Jaffa 
is equally applicable to starting from Beyrout, with this 
additional advantage, that, at the latter place you can 
make all your arrangements for the entire trip the same 
as at Jerusalem, . and upon quite as good terms. 

As to the carrying of arms through Syria, there is no 
absolute necessity for it, though it is not amiss to have a 
revolver or a double-barreled shot-gun along, to show the 
natives that you are prepared for emergencies. A good 
cane or cowhide whip will come oftener in requisition, as 
you may flog, but not kill, your servants or the natives 
with impunity. 

The clothing for a Syrian trip (supposing it to be made 
in March and April) should be such as we would wear at 
home in winter. The days are warm, but the nights are 
cool and chilly, and unless one is well provided with warm 
clothing, there is danger of fevers peculiar to the country. 

Another traveler, writing on this subject, says : " To 
travel with comfort or advantage, a man must conform to 
the practice of the country. In the first place, he ought 
to adopt the Eastern garb, both for its greater convenience 
and for health's sake. Considerable danger arises from 
traveling during the heat of the day from not having the 
body, and especially the head, sufficiently covered. The 
horses and mules cannot travel at a rapid pace ; the body 
is not kept sufficiently in motion to excite perspiration, 
and the skin becomes dry and burning hot, the pulse full 
and quick, and fever is very apt to supervene. The body 
ought to be covered with as much additional clothing as 
in the coldest weather, and the head enveloped in shawls, 
in order to keep up a constant moisture on the skin. Our 
tight-fitting European garments, moreover, with their 



The Old World. 



straps, and buttons, and braces, are sore encumbrances in 
a country where men sit down on the lap of mother earth 
with their heels tucked under them, and where they lie 
down to sleep at night without undressing. The thick 
folds of the turban are likewise invaluable as a protection 
against the direct rays of the sun, not to mention that they 
often save the unwary stranger from a broken pate. Both 
the outer and inner doors of the houses in many towns, 
particularly Jerusalem, are so low that new-comers from 
Frankistan frequently give themselves violent blows on 
the head in their forgetfulness of the necessity of stooping. 

" Traveling in Syria is always performed on the backs 
of mules or horses, except in the desert and its confines, 
where camels are employed. Wheel-carriages are un- 
known, and rarely is there even a cart to be seen in the 
whole country. 

" Travelers who have not their own horses sometimes 
prefer the sure-footed mules to the hack horses that are let 
out for hire ; but the obstinacy and perversity of the mule 
is a sore trial of the rider's patience. The horse, if he is in 
tolerable condition, may be trusted with safety on the 
worst roads, and his gentle and gallant spirit, hardiness 
and intelligence, endear him to the traveler as a true friend. 
Their powers of endurance are most remarkable. 'An 
old flea-bitten gray horse, given me by the commodore,' 
says Colonel Napier, ' has, on more than one occasion, 
carried me for sixteen or eighteen hours at a stretch with- 
out food ; and once I cantered him from Hebron to Jaffa, 
nearly fifty miles, without pulling bit.' 

" Traveling on horseback, even though the pace be 
moderate, involves hardships, exposure, and fatigue. It 
is not a recreation suited to all men, and is trying even to 
those who are vigorous and indifferent to luxuries and 
comforts ; the mountains afford nothing like snug and easy 



Eastern Travel. 



451 



accommodation for those who feel. a prejudice in favor of 
living in houses, or indeed of anything belonging to civil- 
ized life. Even in a short ramble there are certain dis- 
comforts : you cannot easily carry meat with you, and the 
fowls you get are invariably so tough as to be hardly eat- 
able ; and coarse bread, eggs, and sour milk are after all 
but sorry fare. Now and then, indeed, a traveler's propi- 
tious stars may guide him to some hospitable khan, where 
ortolans, ready plucked and trussed, await his coming to 
be roasted. From five to ten cents a bird is the price he 
will pay for the daintiest dish ever set before a king ; but 
these blissful chances are few and far between. Then, 
though one gets tolerably accustomed to sleeping in a 
tent, or even without a tent, you are sadly disturbed by the 
neighing and screaming of your horses at night. They are 
the most gentle and docile creatures possible to ride, but if 
they break loose, they sometimes fight like tigers. Mos- 
quitoes, too, at some seasons of the year, sound their shrill 
trump in your ears, summoning the host of their kindred 
to revel in the godsend of your American blood. Gadflies, 
in warm weather, persecute your horses almost to mad- 
ness, and sometimes favor yourself with a nip ; they ren- 
der traveling in the heat of the day excessively harassing, 
and if the tent happens to be pitched near marshy ground, 
the horses are often so distressed by insect tormentors of 
all kinds that they can neither feed nor rest. 

" But, notwithstanding all these drawbacks, there are 
incomparably greater advantages to set off against them. 
The horseman feels none of that languor and feverishness 
that so generally result from traveling on wheels. The 
very hardships bring enjoyment with them, in invigorated 
health, braced nerves, and elevated spirits. You are in 
immediate contact with nature ; every circumstance of 
scenery and climate becomes of interest and value, and 

38* 



452 



The Old World. 



the minutest incident of country or of local habits cannot 
escape observation. A burning sun may sometimes ex- 
haust or a summer storm may drench you ; but what can 
be more exhilarating than the sight of the lengthened 
troop of variegated and gay costumes dashing at full 
speed along, to the crack of the Tartar whip, and the 
wild whoop of the surrigee? What more picturesque 
than to watch their reckless career over upland or dale, 
or along the waving line of the landscape — bursting away 
on a dewy morn, or racing ' home' on a rosy eve?" 

Urquhart, in his " Spirit of the East" goes off in 
raptures while writing of his experiences of traveling in, 
and among the people' of, the East ; and though our 
own experience will hardly justify us in endorsing all 
that he says, his pictures are, nevertheless, so beautifully 
drawn, that he cannot resist the temptation of quoting 
from them. He says : 

"You are constantly in the full enjoyment of the open 
air of a heavenly climate — the lightness of the atmos- 
phere passes into your spirits — the serenity of the clime 
sinks into the mind ; you are prepared to enjoy all things 
and all states ; you are ready for work — you are glad of 
rest ; you are, above all things, ready for your food, which 
is always savory when it can be got, and never unseason- 
able when forthcoming. Still, I must in candor avow 
that no small portion of the pleasures of Eastern travel 
arises from sheer hardship and privation, which afford 
to the few unhappy beings who have not to labor for 
their daily bread a transient insight into the real happi- 
ness enjoyed three times a day by the whole mass of 
mankind who labor for their bread and hunger for their 
meals. 

" Never does a man feel himself so all but absolutely 
independent of circumstance or assistance as when travel- 



Eastern Travel. 



453 



ing in the East, provided he has had the good fortune to 
make all his arrangements strictly according to the rule 
and custom of the country. If you can do this, you will 
find, in the mountains of Syria as in the peopled city, 
your path pursued by the associations of home, and you 
will become practically acquainted with those feelings of 
locomotive independence, and that combination of family 
ties and nomade existence, which are the basis of the 
Eastern character. How do these inquiries, which ap- 
pear at a distance so abstruse, become homely and simple 
when you surround yourself with the atmosphere of 
custom ! You can at once lay your hand on motives ; 
you spring at once to conclusions without the trouble of 
reflection or the risks which so unfortunately attend the 
parturitions of logic. Placed among a strange people, if 
you inquire, you must use language not applicable to 
their ideas ; if you argue, you deal with your impressions, 
not theirs ; but when you put yourself in a position similar 
to theirs, you can feel as they do, and that is the final 
result of useful information. Burke, in his essay on the 
' Beautiful and Sublime,' mentions an ancient philosopher 
who, when he wished to understand the character of a 
man, used to imitate him in everything, endeavored to 
catch the tone of his voice, and even tried to look like 
him : never was a better rule laid down for a traveler. 

" Thus drawn within the pale of Eastern existence, 
what interesting trains of thought — what contrasts arise 
at every turn, and what importance and value trival cir- 
cumstances, not merely those of the East, but those of 
Europe also, assume ! How are you struck with relation- 
ships, unobserved before, between domestic manners and 
historic events ! .... If I might recall one hour from 
this simple and nomade state of existence more delicious 
than the rest, it would be that of the evening bivouac, 



454 



The Old World. 



when you choose your ground and pitch your tent wher- 
ever fancy or caprice may decide ; on a mountain brow, 
in a secluded vale, by a running brook, or in a sombre 
forest ; and where, become familiar with mother Earth, 
you lay yourself down on her naked bosom. There you 
may establish sudden community with her other children 
— the forester, the lowland ploughman, or the mountain 
shepherd ; or call in to share your evening repast some 
weary traveler, whose name, race, and land of birth may 
be equally unknown, and who may, in the pleasing un- 
certainty but certain instruction of such intercourse, wile 
the evening away with tales of the desert or stories of the 
capital, and may have visited in this land of pilgrims the 
streams of Cashmere or the parched Sahara. 

" But though never can you better enjoy, still nowhere 
can you more easily dispense with, man's society than in 
your tent after a long day's fatigue. It is a pleasure 
which words cannot tell to watch that portable home — 
everywhere the same — spreading around its magic circle, 
and rearing on high its gilded ball ; as, cord by cord is 
picketed down, it assumes its wonted forms, and then 
spreads wide its festooned porch, displaying within mosaic 
carpets and piled cushions. There the traveler reclines 
after the labor of the day and the toil of the road, his 
ablutions first performed at the running stream, and his 
namaz recited — to gaze away the last gleam of twilight 
in that absorbed repose which is not reflection, which is 
not vacancy, but a calm communing with Nature and a 
silent observation of men and things. Thus that pensive 
mood is fostered, and that soberness of mind acquired, 
which, though not profound, is never trivial. Thus at 
home in the wilds should the Mussulman be seen — pic- 
turesque in his attire, sculpturesque in his attitude, with 
dignity on his forehead, welcome on his lips, and poetry 



Eastern Travel. 



455 



in all around. With such a picture before him, the ever- 
busy Western man may guess at the frame of mind of 
those to whom such existence is habitual, and who thence 
carry into the business of life the calm we can only find 
in the solitude, when, escaping from our self-created 
world of circumstance, we can visit and dwell for a 
moment with the universe, and converse with it in a 
language without words. 

" Nor are these, shadows of which I have endeavored 
to catch, the whole enjoyment of Eastern travel. The 
great source of its interest to a stranger, is — man ; the 
character of the people and their political circumstances ; 
facts new and varied ; action dramatic, simple, and per- 
sonal. With us, the national circumstances which de- 
mand the inquirer's attention are of so analytical and 
scientific a character that they are unapproachable, save 
by those who have devoted a lifetime of labor to each 
particular branch. He who has done so, becomes ab- 
sorbed in an exclusive study ; he who has not, has no 
right to opine and shrink from examining. But in the 
East, by the simplicity of system in public combinations, 
and by the clear perception of moral right and wrong in 
personal character — all subjects worthy of engaging our 
attention are placed within the reach of the unscientific 
and reduced to the level of ordinary capacity. But the 
stranger must commence with laying previous opinions 
aside, as the first step toward becoming acquainted with 
feelings different from those implanted by education of 
his national habits and by the experience of his native 
land."' 

We might continue quotations from this eloquent author 
sufficient to fill this and several additional pages, but 
enough, we think, has been given to spice or season our 
own matter-of-fact statements, and we leave both with the 



The Old World. 



reader, that he may draw therefrom such conclusions as 
his own judgment may best approve. 

During halts, while traveling in Syria, you may occa- 
sionally witness the simple and expeditious mode of 
baking bread practiced in the mountains. They dig a 
hole in the ground, which they line with a thick coat of 
plaster, leaving the cavity in shape and size like a large 
cooking-pot, a little bulging in the middle. When the 
plaster is dry a fire is lighted on the bottom of the hole 
and fed with small sticks till the sides are well heated ; 
the flames are then suffered to go down, leaving a mass 
of live coals on the bottom. Meanwhile the dough has 
been prepared and divided into portions of a convenient 
size, which are pressed out on a board till they are as 
large as a common plate, and about as thick as the back 
of a stout carving knife. These soft disks are taken rip 
on a pad and struck against the inside of the simple oven, 
where they adhere and are baked in about a minute. 
They are then withdrawn and others put in their places 
with great rapidity. There are usually several women 
engaged at the same time about the tanmoor, or oven, 
and, being remarkably expert in the business, they require 
but very short notice to prepare bread enough for a meal. 

Some of the modes of salutation in the East are rather 
puzzling to those who are not familiar with them. The 
mountain embrace of welcome and friendship consists in 
throwing the right arm over the shoulder, bringing both 
faces in contact, and sometimes kissing the cheek. "Many 
is the time and oft," says Col. Napier, "when, undergoing 
this ordeal at the hands of some grisly old emir or sheikh, 
I have wished the loving venerable at the bottom of the 
Red Sea, or that he had deputed one of his granddaugh- 
ters to perform the ceremony in his stead." 

An English gentleman is walking in the streets of 



Eastern Travel. 



457 



Damascus when up comes a respectable-looking Turk 
and slaps him on the breast ; the Englishman, not know- 
ing what to make of this, stares at the Turk, who seems 
quite disappointed at not receiving a return in kind for his 
civility. In the end it turns out that the blow was not 
meant for an invitation to a pugilistic set-to, but as a 
friendly token of recognition, such as is very common 
throughout the East. Again, a traveler riding toward 
the ruins of Cagsarea sees two Arabs advancing in the 
opposite direction, mounted on very fine horses. As soon 
as they catch sight of him they raise their long spears in 
the air, and, shouting " Yullah !" dash at him full tilt ; he 
halts — they circle round him once, then wish him a happy 
journey, and ride on their way. Here is an incident of a 
somewhat similar kind that occurred to Sir Frederick 
Henniker : " We were now within a few paces of the 
tent, when seven men sprang upon their feet ; four of 
them drew pistols from their belts and presented them at 
our heads, a fifth raised an axe, and the elder of the 
party, raising a tremendous yell, ran forward toward our 
sheikh, wielding a club as if to kill and bury him at a 
blow ; in an instant he dropped his herculean weapon, 
and, placing his right hand against the right hand of the 
sheikh and then on his own breast, said, ' Salam alekum' 
— Peace be to you ! This was answered by ' Alekum 
salam !' and a similar movement of the hand. The same 
ceremony was performed respectively and respectfully by 
each individual of our party with each individual of theirs, 
and thus having given and received the Arab assurance 
of friendship, we were at liberty to consider ourselves 
safe. To take aim at a person is meant as a compliment, 
which is sometimes increased by firing." Scenes like 
this, though commonplace affairs in the East, must be 
looked on by persons new to the ways of the Bedouins 



458 



The Old World. 



with something like the wonder which a son of the 
desert would probably feel at witnessing the salutes ex- 
changed between an American frigate and a friendly 
fortress. 

But to return to matters of more immediate and prac- 
sical interest to travelers, we may add, in conclusion, that 
saddles for men can now be procured in Syria without 
difficulty. Indeed, those having horses to hire usually 
have them very comfortably equipped ; but if you have a 
lady in company, it would be best to take the saddle for 
her from Europe, as those to be had in Syria are usually 
pretty rough. We bought our lady's saddle at Naples, 
and sold it at Bey rout for about one half its cost. 

There are now three lines of steamers — French, Rus- 
sian, and Austrian — which ply regularly, at least once a 
week, between Alexandria and Constantinople, and by 
either of these one can reach Jaffa or Bevrout without 
difficulty, and can leave either place for other points with 
nearly equal facility. 




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